putting crushed coral or sand

[Mr.Owl]

When adding crushed coral or sand to a new tank do you first put the sand and then add water or add water first and then sand? thanks.

[Duncan]

water

[dicegame]

I recently sent up a new tank over the weekend and i prefer that it is done this way. Put the sand and what ever else is going to be your base in the tank. then put in about 30% of the water. Once that is in then pix it up a little so that it all kind of gets gross. Then set up your jugs of water that should be saltwater i hope above the tank caddy corner on the side and use a hose to transfer the water via a syphon it really works very well and is alot less messy. YOu should be good to go!

[neanderthalman]

Just to add something, do yourself a favor and use anything other than CC. It's too coarse, and does an incredibly good job of trapping detritus and becoming gross and potentially toxic to your tank.

 

I started with CC, and I just replaced it with some seeded sugar-sized sand from my other tank. In two days, my nitrates dropped from the 10-15 that I could never get past to less than 5ppm. My corals have never looked better, and one colony of zoos that I was starting to think was a goner appears to be making a comeback.

 

When I replaced the CC, that was probably the single most disgusting thing I've ever seen. There was an undescribable amount of filth and muck trapped in the substrate. CC traps nutrients and can be detrimental to your tank.

 

Both I, and my corals, are very happy to see it go.