All aragonite or should I mix

I have a 300 gallon system 250g tank/50g sump. It is a new tank set up, dont worry ive done it before. Im just getting back into the swing of things. I had to take my old 125g down for construction around my house. So back to the question. What is the best way to set up my sand bed? My local aquarium expert (lol) was saying not to use crushed coral. That I should use an aragonite base for the bed. does anyone have a say on the subject.

Thanks

 

Most of the ingredients in crushed coral IS aragonite.

A lot of people have moved away from it because the larger grains trap detritus and because a lot of people are too lazy to vacuum. If you are willing to vacuum, crushed coral is just fine.

If you mix crushed coral and aragonite sand, over time you will end up with all of the crushed coral on top of the finer sand and you will end up with the same situation....you'll have to vacuum.

 

I can attest to Inwall's statement there. I had some crushed coral in my tank and just put sand on top of it. Well now all the sand is at the bottom and I am continuously picking pieces of CC out!

Mike

 

Aragonite is the current "in thing" but there is no strong evidence that it works better than crushed coral or even bare bottom. Each requires a differant maintanance regiment, so take that into acount. Pick what you think looks best.

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the input it really helps in making my my mind up. Another question, can I get the crushed coral from the beach? I am going to Sanibel Island soon and all the beaches there are crushed coral. I did this with my last set up and seemed to work great.

Thanks
David