Crushed coral in Reef?

[picasso2006]

Im thinking about switching my tank to a reef tank but my base is all crushed coral. How big of a problem will that be and what must I do? Thanks in advance for all the help

[Dubbin1]

Many people use crushed coral in the reef tanks.

[horkn]

CC ina reef works fine. there are people that say that eventually over time nitrates can build up in the substrate though.

i have CC in mine, but i plan on taking it down when i get a bigge tank within the year...

2 options, you could take some CC out, and crush it and immediately put the crushed up CC in the tank. but this would probably make a big old mess.

or what i have seen is guys add sand a little bit at a time on the top... but that will amke a sand storm too...

[picasso2006]

I also saw that some cucumbers actually have the ability to crush down the pieces, is that true? Not going to be a fast process but better then doing it myself.

[horkn]

never heard of that, but it sure sounds easier than the other options

[rspar]

CC is usually frowned on but I had it under my fine sand for 3 years. I eventually broke the tank down and changed the sand putting the fine stuff in my sump and dumping the cc. I was having serious algae problems. Smooth sailing sense then.

[bertoni]

I had CC and finally removed it. It will tend to produce higher nitrate in the tank IME, but I wasn't willing to spend the time required to siphon clean it. I doubt any cucumber could crush down the pieces, at least in a time frame of interest to us mortals. A sand bed or no substrate would be a better choice, IMO, although CC will work.

[mm949]

If you start adding calcium supplements/reactor CC will form bricks-get rid of it-not worth the hassle long term!

[rspar]

Don't know about a reactor but I didn't find that with mine.