Crushed coral sand+live sand

[Mysterion]

I'm using a mostly crushed coral sand and using little bit of live sand to start my new tank. How do i mix it? crushed coral at the bottom and caribean live sand at the top or mix it all together? Does it matter?

[travis32]

Hey Mysterion. I did the same thing as you. I layered mine, so that the crushed coral was all on the bottom, then did live sand on top about inch of sand across the top of the coral. I didn't try to mix it, though my cc did have some sand in with it, not a lot though.

HOwever, now that I did this, I found out from this group that using cc is not the best idea. It lowers the alkalinity of the water and if it drops too low can damage living corals.

Depends on what type of tank your doing, reef, fish only, or something in between. I did confirm that alkalinity can be screwy with cc based ont he alkalinity test kit I purchased. It said that initially cc will cause changes with calcium and carbon ions in the water and this in turn will cause changes to the alkalinity. It made it sound like it's a temporary issue, but, since this is a brand new setup for you.

Based on the experience and feedback I've gotten, I would avoid the cc all together and just use sand. It's a lot more costly, but, It's a lot easier to do now than tear down your tank and try to remove the cc later.. I have 60 to 70 pounds of live rock sitting in my tank now with a few corals. No fish yet. I don't really want to empty my tank and the rock to get the cc out, so I'm hoping that maybe using some buffers will stabilize the alkalinity some.

For you, my limited experience and advice so far... Avoid the cc... good luck!

[Octoshark]

If you have large particle substrate then it is easier for detritus to build up in it.

[Mysterion]

is there a diference between crushed coral and crushed coral SAND?

[Chiefsurfer]

there might be a difference between standard CC and CC sand, but I don't know. I have never heard the thing about lowering the alkalinity. I have Crushed Coral and Live sand mixed, 15lbs of each. My alk stays constant at 9 since day one. I do not run carbon, or dose vodka, so the carbon intake might be smaller?

[Mysterion]

there might be a difference between standard CC and CC sand, but I don't know. I have never heard the thing about lowering the alkalinity. I have Crushed Coral and Live sand mixed, 15lbs of each. My alk stays constant at 9 since day one. I do not run carbon, or dose vodka, so the carbon intake might be smaller?

Yeah I had seen a thread where the person said crushed coral, then everyone starts the "shouldn't use it" then they mentioned it was "cc sand" and the reactions were something like "ohhh"

trying to find it....

[Mysterion]

Lol nevermind I'm taking the crap back :)
I guess I just have to bend over and buy live sand