Pros and Cons to crushed coral substrate

[drcole]

What are the pros and cons to crushed coral substrate?? I want to go SPS dominant on my current build and like the look of crushed coral.

 

[lolmatt]

Biggest down side imo: can't have wrasses that bury themselves like halichoeres genus.

 

[dhuynh]

The pro is that it traps detritus making the tank look super clean.

The con is that it traps detritus and you'll have to vacuum it out.

With that said, it's my favorite substrate. It looks great. Lots of room for bacteria and pods to hide in.. and when it breaks down, it releases CA and possibly other trace elements back into the water column.

I see it as a giant bed ca reactor. In my tank with this substrate, the ph is way more stable and more buffered than my bare bottom.

For me, thumbs up for looks and benefits.

 

[dhuynh]

Biggest down side imo: can't have wrasses that bury themselves like halichoeres genus.

My wrasses has no problem burying themselves in my crushed corals substrate.

 

[drcole]

Biggest down side imo: can't have wrasses that bury themselves like halichoeres genus.

My most wanted fish is a mandarin so I don't plan on having wrasses that will compete with it for pods. Luckily this is not a downside for me.

 

[lolmatt]

My wrasses has no problem burying themselves in my crushed corals substrate.

It can lead to injury, I lost a h timorensis to an infection due to injury from substrate, but had no problems with many other wrasses in the same tank.

 

[GThompson]

Would a sand bed with coral overlay be beneficial? That way you could have a wrasse if wanted and still benefit from the cal in the crushed coral. Asking for a friend

 

[lolmatt]

Would a sand bed with coral overlay be beneficial? That way you could have a wrasse if wanted and still benefit from the cal in the crushed coral. Asking for a friend

I'd say entering the bed has the highest opportunity for injury, so in this case I don't see a benefit. A box with sand behind your rock may encourage the wrasse to bury there instead of the cc though. Ymmv.

 

[Mariette]

Biggest down side imo: can't have wrasses that bury themselves like halichoeres genus.

Why? I’ve got crushed coral and had a yellow wrasse. It hid in the substrate just fine. I hope there’s no concern it could injure them because I want more wrasses ...

 

[GThompson]

I'd say entering the bed has the highest opportunity for injury, so in this case I don't see a benefit. A box with sand behind your rock may encourage the wrasse to bury there instead of the cc though. Ymmv.

Would you have to separate it with a box or could you just do the separation as you placed the substrate?

 

[lolmatt]

Why? I’ve got crushed coral and had a yellow wrasse. It hid in the substrate just fine. I hope there’s no concern it could injure them because I want more wrasses ...

It can lead to injury, I lost a h timorensis to an infection due to injury from substrate, but had no problems with many other wrasses in the same tank.

 

[Mariette]

Just read the rest of the thread. Pulled the trigger too fast there out of concern for my future wrasse plans. I love the box of fish e sand suggested up top

 

[Mariette]

Love crushed coral. Looks great, easy to syphon, no fear w it getting into and destroying pumps, much less cloudy issues w sand sifters ...

I’ve never had fine sand though so not sure how difficult it is to keep clean in comparison

 

[lolmatt]

Would you have to separate it with a box or could you just do the separation as you placed the substrate?

Hmm. Even with some sort of container I think the sand will mix in. I've got a bare bottom frag tank and I actually siliconed in a small 3" tall baffle just so I could keep a small halichoeres wrasse in there (juvi green wrasse h chloropterus which will be replaced with h leucoxanthus or a leotard macropharyngodon sp. once the green gets too big).

 

[lolmatt]

Back to the original topic...other burying animals like nassarius snails could be affected (may not want to or be able to bury) but other than this I agree with the others here that it's a great substrate.

 

[drcole]

Can sand sifters handle the crushed coral??

 

[dhuynh]

I guess it depends on what crushes corals you use. Mine is like 3mm to 5mm.. some jagged shells but other than that, not bad.

 

[Mariette]

Can sand sifters handle the crushed coral??

I believe there are different sizes of crushed coral. I’ve had the following sand sifters sift my crushed coral: diamond goby. Watchman goby. Banded goby.

 

[lolmatt]

Yeah definitely depends on size. Calcium reactor size substrate likely wouldn't be sifted by gobies

 

[russell13]

Pro’s: doesn’t blow around like finer sand in high flow tanks

Con’s: it’s ugly