sand/crushed coral

[fishinsouthga]

my 65 gallon tank has approx 4inches of what once was crushed coral and 2 or 3 bags of sand, of course the crushed coral wins and is mostly at the top, there is no alge or anything and it doesnt' look bad, however my problem isn't that, but the nasty greyish dirt like stuff that has accumulated in the sand/cc bed itself, should i be sturring? when i do i get all this stringy stuff all over everything, there is plenty of critter activity but i think only the top lay of the bed is getting cleaned, for the "grey dust" is just a mess. any suggestions? idea? should i just let it be?

thanks

 

[DeChamp]

fishinsouthga, sounds like you may need to increase your flow inside your tank, add a powerhead or two! The current will keep the detris moving around in the water column. Hopefully your skimmer will then remove the excess.

 

[K9coral]

When I clean my 46gal, I use a siphon tube thing and clean suck that crap out of my crushed coral in the front of the tank. This is done weekly or every other week. It seems to work good. I agree with dechamp - get a powerhead or two extra - that may help!

 

[JohnD]

Thomas,

I am no expert here on this topic, but Dr. Ron Shimek in his Sand Bed Secrets page 19 says, "Lots of sharp corners, such as is found in artificially manufactured sediments like crushed coral, generally are not good for animals that have to burrow among and between sedimant grains."

Those animals, like conchs, etc, stir up the sand and help remove detrius.

You will probably be better off if you remove everything - crushed coral and sand. Add fresh sand and a portion of live sand to seed your sand bed. I have done this to one of my older tanks that previously had a CC bottom.

I have moved a number of tanks over the years, so I have plenty of buckets, pails and a 33 gallon food-safe Rubbermaid and this whole replacement process to me about 4 hours from start to finish.

I am very happy thet I did the replacement. I used SouthDown sand and am very happy with the results.

HTH