Aragonite VS Crushed Coral !!

[Lord Gaz]

Okay, in your opinion, which one is preferable for a SW set up? Aragonite looks really nice and it will naturally raise the PH of a SW, so I prefer Aragonite. But one of the guys at my LFS says crushed coral is the go, and I've also seen many other salt water setups using crushed coral. So, which one do you prefer?

 

[BIGgourami]

aragonite cause if you use CC you take away potential growth on reefs.

 

[clopez21]

aragonite. Crushed coral traps junk in it.

 

[VLDesign]

Save your money and get white play sand or Quickrete white sand from the hardware store. Argonite sand cannot buffer the PH unless the PH falls below the level required to disolve the sand which by that time would be too late for your critters anyways.

This is just what I have been reading lately.

 

[johnptc]

Save your money and get white play sand or Quickrete white sand from the hardware store. Argonite sand cannot buffer the PH unless the PH falls below the level required to disolve the sand which by that time would be too late for your critters anyways.

This is just what I have been reading lately.

very interesting !!!!!!!!! thanks

 

[ewurm]

I like my aragonite substrate. Not too fine so it doesn't get stirred up as easily, and not to coarse to trap junk.

 

[Lord Gaz]

That's interesting. Never heard of anyone ever mentioning it, as far as I know. How is that compared to Aragonite in pricing?

 

[KenyanSandBoa]

I like my aragonite substrate. Not too fine so it doesn't get stirred up as easily, and not to coarse to trap junk.

Aragonite is the way to go if you do a reef, fish only, or FOWLR. If you are going to do predatory saltwater your talking HUGE bio loads from big guys like eels, groupers, and triggers. It's much easier to vacuum the surface of the sand to remove anything uneaten versus trying to dig it out of crushed coral.

If you go reef or FOWLR, the sand is even more critical because then you are competing with the phosphates and other elements being released into the water when you are trying to grow inverts. When I first started in SW I had a MAJOR takeover of hair algae that cleared my tank of all coraline...a Siganus doliatus took care of that for me.

 

[Brenden]

I personally have never been a big fan of Crushed Coral, however I have never used it either. I always use Aragonite because I personally love the look, its a very fine sand, but at the same time not fine enough to casue a sand tornado in my tank, and allows me to keep Sharks and or Rays without me having to worry about them scratching their bellies and facing the chances of possible stress and or infections.

 

[ewurm]

Crushed coral sucks, too much detritus trapped in it. Aragonite much better.