Crushed Coral to LS

by **FRMNUTN2SUMTN4672** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:02 am

I knew the more I read the more i would be swayed to do this. I am taking out my crushed coral because from what I am reading the positives(keeps ph in check) of this substrate are shadowed by the negatives(not invertebre friendly and traps crap leasing to elevated nitrate) , not to mention LS is more natural looking. I didn't go too fine. I bought 2 20LB bags of Live arogonite reef sand. I bought a small plastic hand shovel from the $.99 store. This is day 20 of my cycle (a few damsels in their, but their coming out soon) and i am going to shovel out the crushed coral and replace. I will also be adding Fiji LR which I am going to purchase off the internet tonight when I find a reasonable price. I will let the tank sit another month until I add any live stock.

by **Snowboss4492** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:12 am

I am in the same boat - -just changed the crushed coral out last weekend . . . be thankful you havn't crashed the tank like I did -to hell with the money lost -really sucks watching the lil guys die and not being able to do anything about it - -I did 20 lbs arag-live natural and 20 lbs arag-live black - -mixed up in the tank ...looks pretty nice - - the pics don't do it justice - -running 15 lbs of LR also in a 20 gallon long tank - - looking forward to a nice sand sifting star or a sand sifting goby in the future

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:13 am

good call!! crushed coral is very limited to its ph buffering ability.it will breakdown rapidly making it useless.live sand/aragonite has higher buffer capabilitys and last alot longer. give joe a call at saltwaterparidise.com i dont know if its the cheapest but the quality is there 100%.his rock is full of pink purple algea.

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:17 am

snowboss, wait until the sand bed is established before adding stars.

by **dick_headers** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:23 am

In my opinion the best way to figure out when the sand bed is ready for "serious" shifters is, when the first green, red or purple algae will show up below the the top of the sand. That means your sand bed getting estabilished, and ready for a stiring crew. You can find a very nice article and pictures about that in the book "Reef Invertebrates" by Anthony Calfo & Robert fenner.

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:30 am

i have talked to anthony calfo .dude is smart. he has a coral farm in PA .read all of his books .

Crushed Coral to LS

6 posts