Crushed Coral vs Sand

[hit_the_gap]

Hi Everyone,
I have been in the saltwater hobby for about 6 years now and about 2 years ago, i upgraded my 72 gal to a 120 gal. when i upgraded i decided to do a crushed coral substrate instead of the sand. i have never had any luck with sand. When i have tried sand, i either ended up with a sandstorm or poor flow on the sand bed. i could never get the power heads right. So when i upgraded i just decided to go with crushed coral.

this morning, i was googling starfish (i want to get one or two) and i thought a sand sifting star would be cool and beneficial, but then i wasn't sure if the sand star could maneuver through crushed coral. then i came across an article where someone had a big problem with crushed coral as a substrate. So my questions are:

-is a crushed coral substrate a poor choice for a reef system?
-should i remove the crushed coral and use sand?
-is it ok to just use the crushed coral?

 

[Baby Ray]

I am not sure about sand sifting stars liking sand vs. crushed coral but I know that they are hard to take care up no matter what unless they are in a huge system
- I use crushed coral and I only have good things to say about it. I think that you should keep it
- I would not remove the crushed coral if you have had problems with both. If you are not happy with either then I would just leave it the way it is.
- It is fine to use just crushed coral. I just used crushed coral

 

[ckozma]

Crushed coral can allow detritus to sift down into it over time and can become even more of a phosphate sink than a sand bed. It needs routine vacuuming.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

+1, get rid of CC, but also don't go with the finest sand. Seaflor grade sand seems pretty nice..

 

[rosshamsandwich]

I've got crushed coral and it works just fine.