play sand vs crushed coral

[talloulou]

So the tank is all set up but now I'm feeling dumb that I let the lfs guy talk me into the crushed coral. I told him I was going to use play sand from home depot but he started hemming and hawing and frowning and talking about the problems with that......and how all the professionals use the crushed coral. And the crushed coral cost me a heck of alot more than the sand would have.

But the books I have all agree that crushed coral is a good substrate.

Do people have successful crushed coral substrate tanks or did I do a big blooper already? Can I buy some play sand and mix 1/2 & 1/2? I don't have any fish in the tank just live rock and cc set up since last night. Should I get rid of the cc and waste $30.00 or should I just get rid of some and add some sand?

From what I can gather from researching online is that the crushed coral will trap debris......which doesn't seem like a big problem becaue I am really good about tank maintenance. But the other problem from what I understand is that sand will hold more beneficial bacteria?

What should I do? I'd rather fix mistakes now before I get into having fish.
And I am mad at myself for letting the lfs intimidate me when I knew to buy sand at Home Depot. It's just that this is all so new

 

[Fluff]

From what I can gather from researching online is that the crushed coral will trap debris......which doesn't seem like a big problem becaue I am really good about tank maintenance. But the other problem from what I understand is that sand will hold more beneficial bacteria?

This is the two main reasons a sand bed is better. CC is more maintenance because it will need to be vacumned. The trapped debris will cause nitrates to rise. A sand bed doesn't need that.

 

[nsu7]

After starting my tank 3 months ago with CC, I swapped it out yesterday with a 1.25 inch sand bed. I resent ever getting the crushed coral. I figure I've had it long enough and it was becoming a regular hassle so I finally felt ok with tossing it (and I am fairly big on waste not want not...)

You may like it though, it can be successful, but the key is regular vacumming. This may not be a problem for you. But like I mentioned, I finally got tired enough of vacumming that I spent the money on some seachem meridian oolitic argonite (3 x20lb bags)
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8119&N=2004+113553+2146962304

Play sand seems to have a mixed review. It seems it will work and probably not too much fear of diatom blooms from the silica, but unless you're dead set on a DSB, I would just get a shallow sand bed with however many bags of that seachem stuff you need(great deal). (See sand bed depth calculator on this sites calculator link...)

My advice would be go with the crushed coral for a while, and see what you think. If you do go with the sand I would just ditch all the CC as it will not mix like you think it should. Think oil and water...

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree. IMO, I prefer the sand bed as well. Much easier to take care of. Plus, you will not be limited with certain fish as well. Certain gobies need fine sand to dig. LLynansa snails are sand dwellers. CC is nice, and it really is all up to you, but that's just my opinion. I did a half and half mixture of Aragonite and a LS bed (really a waste of money for the price, but will help you cycle faster). You can get sand however, for much cheaper than CC.

Good luck.

 

[krap101]

what about aragnite? they sell it at home depot here for like 7$ for 50 lbs. raises ph and kh and stuff. this is called playsand there.

ive never used crushed coral. plus i dont know what saltwater needs

 

[nsu7]

that would be perfect, can't get argonite play sand on Cali tho...

 

[Hara]

You can, however, successfully keep a tank with crushed coral. I experimented alot with substrates. It is alot more work, but not an insurmountable task. One of my tanks has cc, the rest are sand.

 

[talloulou]

Well I'll keep the cc for awhile to see how it goes since I already wasted hard earned money on it

 

[nsu7]

LoL, there you go!