Reef Sand vs Crushed Coral

[smurfman1040]

I have had a fish only tank set up for about 6 months and put crushed coral in it becasue to me it is easy to matain i just used a gravel cleaner on my siphon hose and sucked all the crap out of there. And I have recently started to build a reef tank. Now over the months im sure the the crushed coral has built up a good bio filter and it has developed a great copepod colonythat is very visable. But i have been hearing about and see reef sand in alot of tanks and wanted to know the benifits of the reef sand. Obviously it would be a pain in the butt to strip down my tank, remove the crushed coral and add reef sand. But if it worth i would do it. Also how how would i maintain and clean the sand. Thanks for the help.

Keith

[scubadude]

wanted to know the benifits of the reef sand. Obviously it would be a pain in the butt to strip down my tank, remove the crushed coral and add reef sand. But if it worth i would do it. Also how how would i maintain and clean the sand. Thanks for the help.

Keith

Hi Keith, welcome to Reefland
The benefits of sand to crushed coral is that sand will inhabit a different group of microfauna than the crushed coral. Crushed coral is great for pods like you mentioned, but the sand will house smaller animals like some of the worms and such. One of the best ways to maintain a sand/crushed coral bed would be to have more microfauna (they will clean it for you). You could add a little bit of sand at a time to slowly bring up your SB level, by using a long piece of pipe put one end near the bottom of the tank and the other end sticking outside of the water and fill with some sand so it doesnt stir up the water column. HTH

[smurfman1040]

Are you saying to add the sand on top of my CC dont you think that would look goofy. And what do you mean by microfauna. Thanks.

[Ninong]

Microfauna refers to animals so small that they can be seen only under a microscope.

I wouldn't recommend mixing sand with crushed coral. I think it would be better to remove all of the crushed coral and start over with sand. If you put sand on top of crushed coral, the crushed coral will eventually rise to the top anyway.

Check out this reply that I just posted in another thread.

[smurfman1040]

Scubadude,
Do you think removing the CC will mess up my biofilter. Im planning on saving 80% of the water. And do you have any suggestions on grain size or brands.
Thanks

[scubadude]

Scubadude,
Do you think removing the CC will mess up my biofilter. Im planning on saving 80% of the water. And do you have any suggestions on grain size or brands.
Thanks

I think CC has its place in a reef ecosystem...but that is a broad statement that can go into many different avenues. I do think Ninong is much more versed than me on SB's (sandbeds) so I would take his advice. If you are redoing the system then YES it does make sense to get rid of the CC. As far as grain size....read Ninongs link. And brands....I personally wouldnt use silica sand, I would use an aragonite based sand. Just remember that SB's are a highly debated topic. Heres another link for ya

http://www.reefland.com/rho/0105/medprod2.php

[Ninong]

Scubadude,
Do you think removing the CC will mess up my biofilter. Im planning on saving 80% of the water. And do you have any suggestions on grain size or brands.
Thanks

For a standard size 55 gallon tank, you might be better off not trying to put in a 4"+ DSB because of the size limitations of your tank.

Here are a few possible options to consider:

(1) A 2"-2.5" sand bed of Florida Keys live sand. It's fairly cheap. Particle sizes run around 1.0-1.5mm. This is not a brand name. Just find an LFS that carries Florida Keys live sand. It's NOT in a bag.

(2) A 2.5"-3" sand bed of Carib-Sea Aragamax Select.

(3) A 2.5"-3" sand bed of Carib-Sea Aragamax Sugar.

The main reason I would avoid a sand bed deeper than 3" in your tank is because I don't think your tank is tall enough and I think it would look odd with a sand bed deeper than 3".

[smurfman1040]

Thank you fellas for the help.