Which do you prefer...

[skank-a-holic]

...and why... fine sand bottom or medium crushed coral?

 

[Lester]

...and why... fine sand bottom or medium crushed coral?

hmmm i would refer to go bare bottom instead but provided that u have a veri powerful skimmer

 

[mjvincent]

Sand...

 

[dianeww]

Sand. Had coral when I failed at saltwater 15 years ago. (Didn't know a thing!) Coral collects muck.

 

[malkore]

sugar sized sand.

 

[RLG2182]

I use Caribsea Aragamax... Oolitic sand. White like sugar... looks nice!
And sand has less of a chance to trap deterius and random nitrate creating junk... no need to vaccum it up as long as you have a good level of reef janitors to stir up the sand for you.

 

[lando]

Sand. Less work for me, plus I just like the looks of it better. It requires less maintanance.

 

[Brisc0]

Oolite IMO is the best solution. Not only is it easy for beneficial sandbed critters, but when you first setup your flow it will blow around and create really cool drifts and dunes making the bottom of the tank look more natural. Not to mention its not a detrius trap and has better buffering qualities.

 

[schoeplein]

I have a combination. I need more LS to lay on top of all the CC.. CC collects crazy detritus! Yuck!

 

[zacdl]

Sand.

 

[pearsont74]

not this subject again LOL

Dude, ask yourself one thing...if you have even gone diving or seen reefs on TV....do you ever see crushed coral on the ocean floor? no....you see sand....fine sand with frag of rock and a few shells here and there.

I personally believe (the reason why I got into this hobby) we as saltwater aquariumist try/strive to duplicate what beautiful mother nature has already proven in our tanks. I want my tank to look as close to diving down on a natural reef....

So....in short, its a judgement call on what you want and think of this hobby.
(sorry for the preaching but this subject is a dead horse and it keeps gettin kicked, poor horse...die in peace)

 

[lando]

have a combination. I need more LS to lay on top of all the CC.. CC collects crazy detritus! Yuck!

With the sand being much smaller then the CC, it will just settle to the bottom and the CC will still remain on the top. It is a no-win battle in that reguard.

 

[Clown Monarch]

not this subject again LOL

Dude, ask yourself one thing...if you have even gone diving or seen reefs on TV....do you ever see crushed coral on the ocean floor? no....you see sand....fine sand with frag of rock and a few shells here and there.

I personally believe (the reason why I got into this hobby) we as saltwater aquariumist try/strive to duplicate what beautiful mother nature has already proven in our tanks. I want my tank to look as close to diving down on a natural reef....

So....in short, its a judgement call on what you want and think of this hobby.
(sorry for the preaching but this subject is a dead horse and it keeps gettin kicked, poor horse...die in peace)

The problem is that when I started a SW tank 10 years ago I was told I couldn't use sand in a SW tank which made no sense whatsoever. If there's sand in the ocean, why can't I use sand in my tank? They said it would lower the Ph and crushed coral HAD to be used. Of all the people I talked to, not one person ever even made mention of a "protein skimmer" either. The hobby has advanced since then.

 

[skank-a-holic]

I prefer sand myself but wanted to know why others use what they do thanks for the responses all 8)

 

[SeriousDude5]

Sand. Detritus cannot find its way into it so its easy for my to clean. And my powerheads just push it into the left hand cornor so its easy cleanup for me. Plus I had crushed argonite before sand and didnt like the look.