crushed coral

[Madmilkman]

Is crushed coral a decent substrate for my 90 gallon tank? I had about 100 pounds of it that came with the tank and don't want it to go to waste. Will the bacteria that lives in live sand inhabit crushed coral also?

 

[melosu58]

You would be better off with a sand substrate. CC is infamous for trapping waste and causing high nitrates.

 

[Madmilkman]

How much sand would I need? And could I mix dry sand with live sand?

 

[Sniperhank]

No matter what, sand will become "live" after you cycle your tank. Live only refers to there being the beneficial bacteria living in it and the rock that makes the nitrate cycle, aka consuming ammonia and nitrite to produce nitrate...and making sure your livestock aren't poisoned to death. I would suggest the same poundage of sand as what came into the tank in crushed coral. If you need a money saver, some have used pool filter sand successfully in their aquariums.

 

[Madmilkman]

I may do the pfs mixed with a couple of 20 pound bags of live sand

 

[Sniperhank]

Def something you can do. Just keep in mind that it is only sand and bacteria they are selling in those bags. You can make the bacteria on your own w/o issue.

 

[Madmilkman]

I have 55 pounds of live rock split up in 2 20 gallon tanks. I will probably move that into my 90 along with 30 or 40 pounds of dry rock. Is the bacteria on the live rock same as what lives in the sand?

 

[Sniperhank]

It is what you are looking for, yes.

 

[Madmilkman]

Is there anything I need to do to prepare the pfs for the tank or do I just put it in?

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd rinse it heavily to get any dust out of there to assist with cloudiness.

 

[Madmilkman]

Thanks. I think I will get a couple bags of it

 

[mr_X]

If you mix crushed coral and sand, or two different types of sand, the end result will always be that the large pieces will come to the surface. So, if you plan on mixing the sand and cc, all you will see eventually is the CC and if they are fairly large particles, it will trap a lot of detritus.

 

[Madmilkman]

I am not going to mix them. I will mix the pfs with some live sand.

 

[VinnyLLU]

If you need a high quality sand, google reef flakes or check them out at premium aquatics. It's the best sand I've ever used.