substrate? CC vs. Aragonite snad, vs. other sand.

[playa0069u]

I have some crushed coral gravel, and some aragonite sand. Which one is better? or should i mix them? Also, my lfs has some weird sand that is very very small grain. It almost looks soft. The owner of the lfs says he hates it because it catches to much detritus. Any clue what this is? What about that carribean play sand stuff? does it buffer the ph and alk.? What about normal silica playsand? how would I buffer if I used this?

[greg97527]

IMO go for the larger grain stuff, more pockets for life in the sand bed. I tried out some rubble rock aka garf grunge in my buddy's tank and what a difference compared to his aragonite tank. just remember it is only my opinion. good luck.

[jojo22]

Crushed coral is a very bad thing to put in your reef. If you want the tank to stay running long term you should definately go with the sand

[greg97527]

umm ya i just re-read my post and forgot to mention to combo it lol sorry bout that. aragonite always but u could use some rubble or something on top or mix it in a bit.

[jojo22]

Combo is not even good. Over time the CC will rise and cause the same problems. Mixing it up is not good because then you have disturbed your bacterias.

[greg97527]

really? we never had any problems at all with it, not even in our prop tank.

I do notice in this hobby that what works with one may not work with other.

[jojo22]

Yeah I would put up a poll. I have never seen CC last more than two years without a crash

[RHAPALA]

I MYSELF LIKE THE SAND SEEMS TO LOOK ALOT NICER IN MY TANK

[greg97527]

nice to know, the prop tank was only up for a year so....
anyways i'm glad when i set up my 55 that i used the aragonite white and blakc