saltwater fish tank sand vs. crushed coral?

Question

which is better or is a combination of 50 50 better? ~thanks a lot~

Answer 1

i use sand as it also for more options in tankmates. now crushed coral is sometimes preferred as it is much easier to clean than sand. As you can treat it like gravel where sand you cant.

There are plenty of people who use 50/50 but again it is up to you.

On my sw tank i use live caribbean sand.

Answer 2

Crushed Coral Sand

Answer 3

Do sand if your doing a reef tank if you are doing a fish only tank go with crushed coral, if they knock up the sand it can impact your filter and sand is difficult to clean you'll wind up sucking the sand right out of the tank but if you like the 50/50 then go for it its all about personal preference

Answer 4

I prefer the sand, but don't base your decison on what we like - base it on what works for what you intend to keep in the tank.

The primary reason I don't like crushed coral is the size of the particles - it's easy for wastes to fall between the pieces and get trapped where they can decompose and add to the nutrients in the tank.

I wouldn't consider mixing the substrates to work too well - the smaller particles will fall between the larger.

I'd say your best option is to review the chart on this link: http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html to see what grain sizes will work best for your organisms. For instance, do you have/plan to have burrowers? Fish that rest on their bellies (gobies, jawfish, hawkfish)? Also, if you would plan to use an reverse-flow undergravel filter for additional biological filtration. These can make a huge difference in the type of substrate you should have.

Also, if you have water that's well below 8.0 in pH, the smaller the grain size of the substrate, the better buffering you'll have - the smaller sized particles create more surface area to react with the lower pH water, but the faster the particles will disintegrate.

Answer 5

crushed coral will help keep the PH balance better....thats why you would want to use it in a marine set up.But even in a salt set up the PH depends on the fish you have....if any....do you have a reef set up?PH in fresh water doesen't really matter as fish will get used to it.But saltwater needs a constant balance.So decide if you want fish only in a salt water tank or a reef tank:PH in either will be different!

Answer 6

well i like the live sand b/c it looks better in my opinion, more natural like the ocean. and live sand helps your tank.
the only good think i like about crushed coral is that it will help you maintain the high ph you need. but my live rock helped that a lot. now it stays where it needs to no matter what.

Answer 7

i like crushed coral 'cause its easier to clean that sand