Cloudy Water

This type of stuff is what I use and what I recommend to anyone wanting to start up a saltwater system:
CaribSea Aragamax Sugar-Sized Sand 30 lb
or this:
CaribSea Aragamax Oolitic Select Sand 30 lb
The grit of the sand is much finer than what the pics depict. The sugar sized it very fine, which is good for sand sifters or soft belly fish, like sharks or rays.
Aragonite acts as a buffer because it is composed of carbonates and bicarbonates that are more easily broken down when the pH of the water drops, which will naturally raise the pH. Crushed coral is much larger and will trap waste and foods, which will create what we call "nitrate factory" in your system, which will ultimately cause "old tank syndrome" tank crash. Remember that most people that work at stores are just hired help and don't really care either way on what you buy, or they just really don't know better.

 

Thanks Tigermike. If I decide not to change out the crushed coral what do I need to do to keep it clean? I have one of those vacum things do you have suggestions? Can I mix the 2? I only have 20lbs of the crushed coral.

 

It's a doubled edged sword with keeping crushed coral as substrate, to keep it clean. You can siphon out the detritus, but you will have a hard time getting it all out since most will settle to the bottom, or within the caves of the coral itself. Then you will siphon out the bacteria colonies that are in place to breakdown the waste. You can definitely mix substrate, but be careful not to put too much in. Deep sand beds also have the same problems as crushed coral, they will produce a lot of nitrates over time. I can empathize with you about not wanting to change the substrate. I went through that with my 150G. I had 180lbs of sand that was a little too coarse for my sting ray, so I was forced to change it all out for finer oolitic sand. I was able to sell it to a local reefer, but I did loose about $50 over the swap.

 

now would be the time to change the crushed coral not later....

 

I agree here . In such a little tank your gonna have alot of issues keeping your water clean . Take the loss NOW instead of later when you have fish or corals . Its alot cheaper doing it today and starting over since your tank is so new .

 

UGH... Well If I don't order stuff online and goto my LFS what should I be looking for. I am only out 14bucks so not the money thats the issue. Its more of look. I like the way it looked in the tank. So far I have been doing this all wrong.

 

Another question just popped into my head. Am I supposed to be running my filter during this "break in process" Curing the live rock and waiting for my levels to stabilize? I am not sure what I am thinking about that but again reading to much info and 2nd guessing my self.

 

Look for "Aragonite sand" or something like that. The finer/smaller the grain the better off you will be. I would go with sugar-sized or oolitic. Caribsea makes it and can even be found at Petsmart.
This is the only stuff I buy, look into the substrate section:
caribsea your aragonite source and more!
Using the "Arag-Alive" will help seed your system since it already has live bacteria in the water, it comes wet. I used the Fiji-Pink Arag-Alive. For the dry sand, I used both oolitic (no longer shown as being available) and sugar-sized. Look for this stuff, you will be glad you did in the long run, and so will your fish.
Do run your filtration during the curing process. You want your protein skimmer to pull out any of the die off nutrients from the LR. Remember, it's ok to learn by mistake at this point. Kudos to you for asking now and not when you are asking "all my fish are dying, what am I doing wrong."

 

Ok​

Went to LFS today. I got the

fiji​

pink live sand. I scooped out the crushed coral and

vacuumed​

out the rest. I put in the new substrate and poured in the water. Thanks

TigerMike​

and everyone else for all your help.

Is it

ok​

that I re used the water?

 

Pink fiji is great stuff, I have it in my 20G tank, you did good there. :thumbs_up
It is perfectly fine that you used the same water, actually it's best that you did or you would have brought it back to square one. Since the pink fiji is generally "arag-alive" it will help speed up your cycling by about a week or two before you can put in a starter fish. ;D