Crushed Coral Vs. Sand

What do you eventually want to keep in this tank?

there are merits , advantages and disadvantages with many substrates

example - if you wanted SPS and thus very high flow, very fine sand can be a problem as it will not stay where you want it

medium grain sand would be better in that scenario as its heavier and thus less likely to waft about under decent flow

if you wanted to keep a Wrasse species that sleep/ hide in the sand bed
fine grade sand is possibly a nicer more comfortable option for those species and any others that spend time in that area

Crushed coral can trap detritus/ uneaten food/ fish waste etc
and certainly could be a source of future nitrate issues

if it where me
and I was creating a soft coral dominated reef tank, in which a sand resting wrasse was going to be kept , I would go fine grain sand as my flow would not be intense

if I was having a SPS dominated tank - then I would have a larger grain of sand

Steve

 

What the man above me said! Get what YOU like - it is your tank. I've actually removed all the sand in my tanks for crushed coral. Never blows around, easy to aquascape, and a quick monthly vacuum of the bigger chunks of gunk in there makes it a no brainer for me.

 

Thanks everybody for your input, I'm going to go with the aragonite special grade sand, seems to be a good choice.