Clean-up crew and substrate?

[swoopx]

I currently have crushed coral and was wondering if taking it out and adding a sand bed was a good or bad idea? I dont like the idea of having to vacuum up the crushed coral every water change. Do clean up crews only swift and clean sand beds or will they do crushed coral too?

[Konadog]

Depending on how old your tank is, and how deep the CC is, you could just cover it up with sand. How big is your tank?
The better thing to do would be suck it all out and go BB, but that's another debate!

[swoopx]

its a 110g tank, 2 years old. And the CC is 2" deep I believe

[swoopx]

whats is BB BTW?

[clavery]

bare bottom. hubby did it on his 125, but you can see the detrius pile up, so I don't really like it - he cleans it up when doing water changes. I keep sand in mine, and the sand sifter and hermits seem to keep it clean.

[romunov]

I would take it out. I suggest a BB tank (or perhaps starboard) over a sand bed.

[swoopx]

so you cant get any critters to clean a CC botton? I dont like the idea of having a BB seems unsightly.

[swoopx]

I was looking at getting one of those clean up crew packages but didnt know if they were meant for crushed coral

[romunov]

A pump cleans a BB. :)
I really can't suggest anything for CC. The sediment is just too coarse, traps detritus and is unable to house enough "good" animals to clean it up.
A DSB does this, but there's a twist to the story.

[swoopx]

whats the best way to take out the CC and put in sand? Do I need to drain everything or can I just scoop out the CC and pour sand in there and wait for it to settle? How are my LR and fish going to handle that?

[romunov]

I think dr. Ron has quite a few good answers regarding this. Do a http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/images/top_search.gif on his forum. Don't forget to change date to "any date". :D