Crushed Live Rock for Substrate

My experiment is to used use my left over 40lbs of live rock and crush it and use it as my substrate, instead of live sand, for my second reef tank. What are your thoughts?

 

Welcome to 3Reef. It will work but you'll have the same problem people with crushed coral have. If you don't vacuum it often, detritus collects in it and rots sending your nitrates sky high.

 

Welcome to 3reef and I agree with inwall.

 

Yeah it will act just as crushed coral does, thanks to larger grain substrate, compared to the sugar grain most people have. I have CC now, but vacuum it a lot when I do my weekly water changes. I'm going with argamax on my next tank.

 

I Agree with all. I'm trying to get away from the typical sand bottoms. Bare bottoms are not for me. Looking for something different and unique. I figure as long as I have good circulation, 25 to 30X, a kick ass protein skimmer and decent sized refugium I should be ok. The setup will be a 60 gallon cubed LPS reef tank, 24"x24"x24". A single 250 watt 20,000K metal halide over the tank. Thank you for the welcome.

 

what about black sand then, if u want something different.

 

+1 on the black sand.... easier to maintain and a different look than the standard white sand bed. im not a fan of crushed coral. to me its the equivalent of using gravel in a freshwater tank... PITA to maintain by comparison. my cichlid tanks, reef tanks, etc all use some form of sand now after much headache, frustration and of all things laziness

 

I've been thinking about black sand for my upgrade project.. such difficult decisions because you really HAVE to commit..

 

I don't think those things will matter much as far as detritus goes. I have about 40-50x turn over in my tank, a skimmer rated for more then double my tank size and a refugium filled with chaeto and I still get a fair amount of detritus on my rock and sand. There's going to be left over food, fish poop, coral poop, algae and other dying organic material. IMO, it will be fine for a while, but as the tank ages, you will have a harder and harder time keeping nitrates down unless you completely vacuum the substrate frequently.

 

GuitarMan89. I agree. It will get harder and harder. I like a challenge but, for over success, IMHO a DSB is always going to win out. My current set up, 90 gallon sps reef tank, has a DSB and is doing well. I never though of black sand. This is really interesting. I joined the right reef forum. You guys and gals are extremely intelligent. Now, I must do more research on this black sand. Anyone have a vendor in mind??? I researched for 8 months before I started my sps tank. Now, I shall do more research. Much thanks!!!!