Gravels aragonite sand or crushed coral?

[theshrewtou]

Hello everybody!!!! I have a 45 gallon salt water corner tank and just got a Fluval 404 and a penguin 330 filter bio-wheel. I was going to put all these in the tank soon. I believe that I had Dolomite gravel before and am asking about some opinions on what I should use for a gravel. I was told that crushed coral is good because it is easier to clean and aragonite is better for biological filtration. I think that I have plenty of biological filtration. I belive the dolomite had some buffering characteristics to keep the PH stable. This is something that I definately want in a gravel. The less maintance the better. I only plan on putting some damsel fish in the tank for about a year because I might move. I do not want any live rock this time but wouldn't mind some hermit crabs. I would like to be able to siphon the gravel to remove debris with my water changes. It seems like a good idea. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[BillyZ]

if you want less maintenance then you want an argonite based sand bed. with the sand bed there's no need for vacuming. You vacume the CC because is collects the detritus. a DSB will give you more natural filtration without any added maintenance. The CC will give you minimal filtration and you'll need to maintain it.


JMO