bottom substrate

[gottafish]

i am setting up a reef system with wet/dry system. can i use crushed coral for main tank bottom substrate? or what is best?
gottafish

 

[drummereef]

I would use an aragonite sand. Crushed coral substrates tend to collect detritus that can lead to nitrate issues. Is this going to be a FOLWR or REEF tank?

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!!! I agree...Stay away from the crushed corals. Some people have had success using it, but I think more have not...Myself included. As for the wet/dry, be carefgul with that as well. If you are going with a fowlr setup and aren't too worried about possibly some algae in teh tank, then it is fine to use. However, if you plan to go with a reef setup, then you may want to re-think the wet/dry as they are nitrate factories as their end product is nothing, but nitrates as they have no way of performing denitrification (process by which nitrates are converted to nitrogen gas by denitrifying bacteria). SSo what you ewnd with over time is an accumilation of nitrates. Let us know your long terms plans though so we can know which direction to point you in.

Good luck!

 

[Scooterman]

Different substrates require different maintenance, If you go with a Crush Coral go thin bed about an 1" & vacuum it throughly & regularly, you will see this used in large public aquariums quite often.

 

[gottafish]

not wanting to sweep. thanks for advice.

 

[gottafish]

thanks for advice but i'm new and need to read more, thought i would cheat and not read the books and talk to experts. Please clearify term:fowlr.

 

[james734]

fowlr = Fish Only with Live Rock..

 

[Krish]

Reading helps alot and so does asking around. The problem with getting feedback from others sometimes though is you will find that alot of people have many different opinions on things. Just remember, there is more than one way to go about things in this hobby and still be successful so dig deep and see what works well for you and go that route. I've tried crushed corals and had issues, I tried fiji pink sand and still wasn't content so I went with a bare bottom setup (no substrate) with high flow and would never switch back. My best success has been with a bare bottom setup, but then for others, they may not have had the same success so read and asjk questions and go with what works best for your application...

 

[drummereef]

thanks for advice but i'm new and need to read more, thought i would cheat and not read the books and talk to experts. Please clearify term:fowlr.

In the long run I think you'd be much more happy with an aragonite sand. Also, I'd stay away from wet/dry filtration. Over time, you'll probably see a nitrate problem. If you have at least 1lb/gallon of live rock, plenty of flow, and an quality skimmmer, that's all you really need as far as filtration goes. The live rock will serve as the main bio filter.