Crushed Coral to Sand

HarveyO · 02/08/2018, 08:26 AM

Hello

I recently left the freshwater side and decided to start a 29Gallon Reef Tank. I talked to my LFS and they talked me into going with crushed coral as a substrate and now I am already regretting it. I don't think it will meet my future intent. I haven't added any livestock yet. I have been letting my tank cycle. Now I'm pretty sure I want to switch to sand unless anyone has objections. Almost everything I have read is against CC and all for SB.

After rambling on, my question is, how do I switch over to sand without completely restarting from the beginning and without completely disturbing the tank cycle?

bertoni · 02/08/2018, 11:52 AM

I hated my crushed coral substrate because it was a detritus trap. I had to disassemble the tank, but I got only very mild cycling symptoms. The best you can do is keep the live rock in water as much as possible, and work quickly. There might be some more die-off and some delay in getting to the ammonia-free state, but it's worth it, in my opinion.

02/08/2018, 08:26 AM	#1
HarveyO Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 49	Crushed Coral to Sand Hello I recently left the freshwater side and decided to start a 29Gallon Reef Tank. I talked to my LFS and they talked me into going with crushed coral as a substrate and now I am already regretting it. I don't think it will meet my future intent. I haven't added any livestock yet. I have been letting my tank cycle. Now I'm pretty sure I want to switch to sand unless anyone has objections. Almost everything I have read is against CC and all for SB. After rambling on, my question is, how do I switch over to sand without completely restarting from the beginning and without completely disturbing the tank cycle?

02/08/2018, 11:52 AM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I hated my crushed coral substrate because it was a detritus trap. I had to disassemble the tank, but I got only very mild cycling symptoms. The best you can do is keep the live rock in water as much as possible, and work quickly. There might be some more die-off and some delay in getting to the ammonia-free state, but it's worth it, in my opinion. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni