# sand or crushed coral?



## mac6539 (Sep 28, 2009)

_question for ya, ok maybe a couple.. i see you talk about sand depth, are you saying not to use crused coral for a bed? i have 3 tanks runnnin and the 2 i have sand beds i always seem to have to adust ph . where the tank i have crused coral for the bed i dont?

i had aloyt of hair algae which i didnt mind too much, id just pick some o a routine basis before it got way out of control.. but it has seemed to die off and now im getting this brown sort of algae growing on everything especially the glass

ok last one i have a kohl tang that for lack of better words hi mouth is staying open..more its like has lost his lips. still eating well and grazing but definitely doesnt have the typical kohl tangs lips/mouth_


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

well i personally can not answer all of the questions but i would like to tag along to learn a bit more... as i dont think i have seen you here before WELCOME to TFK!!!!!!!
as for the substrate this is an interesting point you make about PH i personally use a shallow sand bed that is a mix of fine and course sand and have a slightly low PH i am now wondering if mixing a bit of Crushed coral into my sand bed would assist with this issue.... thank you for asking this question i think a number of us will learn a great deal following this thread......


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## mac6539 (Sep 28, 2009)

thanks im hoping for some answers..lol i had a fresh water setup that when i edded some crushed coral to, it brought it up.. after all coral is made from calcium..


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

true true but the salt water tanks react far differently to such things ... please some one shed some light here he wants to know, i want to know and i am sure there are trolls all over the world waiting on the edge of their chairs for an answer..LOL


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## mollies (Mar 27, 2009)

well I used sand in my main tank. and have 5 lbs crushed in my sump. The reason i used the crushed in my sump is to increase the ph. In my QT i have just crushed coral. Why or for what reason i dont know. i just have learned that from a close friend. So im willing to learn to.:lol:


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## outpost (Mar 30, 2010)

I like the cherished coral look better. If it's big enough the snails will go on it and clean it. Also if you had a deep sand bed (which I do not reccomend) vs a deep cherished coral and you left it alone the sand would compact and that is bad. The crushed coral will also allow more new water ro enter the bed and old water to exit.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

yup thats deffinitly true i hate using just sand unless you have an enormous amount of substrate turners nassarius,sand siffters, gobies .ect.. when i do use a sand bed i add a bit of larger grade mixed in to help prevent compaction wich denys water acces to the coral itself stopping buffering power and causing anerobic bacteria....thats why when someone with fresh water needs to bump up the ph they use the corser mor porous grade of crushed coral...although i have seen a few succesfull all sand beds i have found it easier to just mix it up....ps if the coral has been there for a long long time and has become smothered and compacted it may not be buffering at all...hope this is a little help...ADIOS....


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