Crushed Coral Use in Tank

[Deb K]

Hello! I'm an "old school" Aquariust wanting to get back into the hobby. And because the wife wants a saltwater tank. My last tank was in the mid 90's. We used crushed Coral then for the substrate, but, after reading some threads, it's no longer recommended. Please fill me in?

[Airedale.Reef]

Hi Deb! I didn't think there was an issue using crushed coral for your substrate. Really, it depends on what you are wanting to keep.

 

For example, if you are wanting to keep SPS, which needs high flow, crushed coral could useful vs fine sand. However if you wanted to keep a sand sifting gobies or starfish a dense substrate wouldn't work. 

I personally used CaribSea Fiji Pink sand, however Caribsea offers a few different grades to meet your preference. 

 

https://caribsea.com/marine-substrates/

[geekreef_05]

welcome back!

 

Crushed coral for substrate went outta style cause it was thought too collect detritus. And there arent any creatures available to the hobbyist that would naturally keep it clean and live in that environment happily. 

 

Although, it might be available still. There's still livesand options available in various grain sizes.

 

One other consideration for you, as you return to the hobby, is to seek out liverock and avoid the dry rock thats become popular today. Dry rock is terrible in my experience. 

 

[mcarroll]

On 4/27/2024 at 10:16 AM, Deb K said:

Hello! I'm an "old school" Aquariust wanting to get back into the hobby. And because the wife wants a saltwater tank. My last tank was in the mid 90's. We used crushed Coral then for the substrate, but, after reading some threads, it's no longer recommended. Please fill me in?

It was a media for under gravel filter use in a saltwater tank (or Tanganyikan cichlid tank) – the uniform large grain size would keep it from getting under the filter plate.  Folks tried to keep using it when UGF's when out of style (but see some of Paul B's posts on RC or R2R about his tank that may STILL be using a UGF.).  

 

But it was found that mixed grain size sand beds (eg AraqAlive or Ocean DIrect) would naturally stay cleaner.  I had an Ocean Direct sand bed in place for around 10 years and it was as clean when it was decommissioned as it was when I installed it.  I had a minimal-but-complete CUC, and a light-to-non-existent fish load.  (Open-top stand, so I could see the underside of the sand bed.)

 

Bare bottom is more practical IMO, but some folks don't like the aesthetic.  In that case, a minimal (around 1") sand bed of mixed grain size is "the way to go".