Crushed coral help ?

[saltytank]

Is sand a better substrate than CC. If so could i add live sand over the CC. I wasn't sure because i have 4 fish and live rock in the tank now and i did not know if that would have a bad effect on livestock.

 

[indy]

Sand is generally considered to be a better idea. It has tremendous surface area for bacteria to build, and is friendly to almost all aquarium life. Some folks use CC for looks, and for some reason most lfs push it on beginners. Unfortunately it has big places for detritus to build up, and due to it's size and shape the nifty little bugs that like to eat detritus don't fair very well in it.

You will probably end up with a healthier tank long-term if you remove the CC entirely and replace with playsand. If you're running good exterior filtration, the impact will be minimal. If you're using a DSB made up of the CC, you'll have to change it out over time to allow the bacteria to populate the sand. I got started with CC and a wet/dry and switched over after doing a lot of research. Water quality is much better now and doesn't take any work from me besides top off and sometime water changes. I like the natural approach to filtration, so i generally push the DSB/live rock/fuge method if you're willing to do the setup.

 

[1neondottyback]

I have 40lbs of cc in my tank and I use an UGF in my tank. If I had to do it over again I would go with the sand bed. Just looks better to me and you could use sleeper gobies to filter it and keep it looking nice. I went with the cc because the sand would have been too fine. If you just add sand to your cc over time the sand will just mix in and you will not see it.

I hear this play sand at Home Depot is the way to go.....remove your cc in 25 percent increments as to not crash your system by removing too much beneficial bacteria. Move across the tank bottom in segments. Use a clean funnel to put the sand into the tank.

In my 7gallon tank I used live sand, it's amazing how my perc will grab food from it and swallow the pellet yet expell the fine sand.

 

[saltytank]

Thanks for th tip, one of those live and learn kind of things.

 

[HoopsGuru]

The CC will work fine, but you have to vacuum it regularly. This (and the look) is why most people no longer use it for reef tanks. It still is a great substrate for fish only tanks though where normal cleanup crews would be eaten.

If you like how it looks, and don't mind doing a little maintenance, it will work fine in your tank since you only have fish and liverock. Some pods will populate the tank, but since you are vacuuming it, they don't have much of a job to do anyway. If you don't like how it looks, changing it out should be fairly easy and there is a "how to" article in the articles section of the site.