Substrate for FOWLR and detritus

[mling]

I am trying to find out the appropriate substrate for a FOWLR tank. I have a 2 inches high substrate, made up of 2mm to 5 mm sized aragonite/crushed coral in my FOWLR 45G, I am still cycling the tank so there is no livestock in it yet.

I am thinking of putting some live sand on top of it because I hear that the substrate I have may trap detritus. Is this a good idea ? Since I don’t plan to have a DSB in this tank what depth of live sand should I put on top of it ?

 

[jt481]

I would recommend only a small amount-a dusting through out the tank to less than one inch for seeding purposes.

 

[Anonymous]

Crushed coral should be fine. Make sure you rockwork is open so you can vaccum it when doing you water change.

 

[paats]

I took out the crushed coral substrate in my tank a month ago and wish I hadn`t waited so long to do it.I fought this tank for a year.Now I have just a 'dusting' of sand a it`s working great.I have a 55g that I set up the same way two years ago and it`s worked very well also.I just couldn`t keep the cc bed clean enough to avoid problems.

 

[mling]

patts
What kind of problems did you have to deal with ? So you pretty much have a bare bottom tank now ?
Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[paats]

I was trapping so much detritus in the substrate that I was vacuuming constantly just to try to clean it out.Seemed like no matter how many water changes and tank cleanings I did I was fighting algae and cyano problems.This is on a 125g.I run a 55g with just a small amount of sand in the bottom just for aesthetics and it`s been a breeze.Finally decided enough and spent a whole day breaking down the 125 and removing the crushed coral substrate.I have just enough sand to dust the bottom, some spots are bare because the tangs whip them clear when they pass through.Just small spots you don`t really notice.The tanks really happy now.Problems are nil,upkeep has become a lot easier and I see the difference in the corals thriving.I`m going to stick with this or maybe try completely bare bottom next time.It has worked well for me.
Good luck, Pat