live sand vs. crush substrate

[jyuen]

Hi... I'm pretty new to this hobby. I have a 180GAL fish tank and are using live Sand and live Rocks. I see some folks use crush substrate. What's the difference? Which one is better? Any help would be appriciated. thx in advance.

[romunov]

Check Ron Shimek's forum. Read the sticky threads.

[DaveC]

Sand is better, and you do not have to purchase all live sand....alot of people that have a home depot around them purchase the Southdown play sand and then seed it with Live Sand....as far as the crushed coral is concerned, because of its size it will trap alot of debris and it will build up if you do not vacuum it out....I used mostly sand with alittle crushed coral which I am sorry I used that much....and you probably should plan on approx 4 inches of the sand...also crushed coral can be alittle rough on some of the digging inverts as it can be sharp and even cut, most prefer the sand, easier for them to bury themself....some wrasses will bury them self at lights out, crush coral makes it almost impossible for them to do that...so there are alot of advantages to using sand only...

DaveC

[templar_1109]

I went with CC and argonite mix......I HATE IT!!!!!

1. I cant keep it clean

2. It trap's everything

3. animals hate it

4. argonite dissolves and when you vacume you get a white cloud also when gobys dig in it you tank looks like milk

5. No animal can effectively clean it without distroying your tank.

6. I HATE IT

besides all that I hate it.

[raskal311]

I have CC mixed with sand is that bad? I dont have it in my tank but i have a box sitting in my house I was planning to use. I was thinking about using just the cc in my fuge and putting the sand in my display, good idea? Isn't cc good for your PH?

[Hound]

that would be ok it depends on the look you want....you should have a rocks in your sand to help with stagnant spots but not mcuch...im currently using half sand and half crushed coral but im planning on gettin more sand cause all in all your animals with like it better cause it easier for them tomove around and dig through i wish i wold of gone wiht sand fromt he start

[ufans]

Yep. I have to agree. I have CC with sand. The CC has a lot of sharp edges and creates a rough surface on the bottom which the snails and other detris eating machines don't like too much... so they stick to the walls and live rock. I have a large corner of my tank that has a nice bed of sand that my sand shifting star loves so I am just going to cover almost all of the other parts with live rock.

I would have much rather just done southdown 100%. It is much nicer to look at and the inverts seem to like it better. Best of all.. it is a lot cheaper.