live sand on top of crushed coral ?

[mkilbur5]

I have a 55g tank that i started 4 months ago it has 3 '' of crushed coral recommended by lfs. but I would like to put crab sea sand on top , like to see some little critters crawling around in the sand and my wife likes how it looks. If I mix in slowly would there be any problems. and i have not added live rock yet, how much do i need. right now it has three small pieces of tufu ? that holly stuff and some fake stuff witch will come out when I get the cash for the rock.
do you glue the rock together.

[teach]

The crushed coral will end up on top of the sand. I took out the crushed coral in half of my tank at one water change. I took out the rest during the next water change, and then added sand. I didn't have any issues.

[Hop]

I would remove the CC as it just becomes a diatris trap. You can then add sand, I use a 2" piece of PVC to slide the sand down to keep the dust storm to a minimum. As far as the live rock goes, some glue it and some don't. Some drill the rock and use acrylic rods to help support the aquascape.

[Jnicho]

Hey...where abouts in MO are you?

I would remove the CC, especially since you don't have a ton of LR on top it shouldn't be that hard. I added sand over CC once, looked great for about a month, then the sand ended up working it's way to the bottom. The smaller particles of sand slowly work their way down through the larger openings between the CC. Also, the benthic organism in live sand need the fine oolitic sand, CC is to course and jagged.

Not sure what the "Tufu" is? Do you know if it's calcium based. If not ditch it and replace with the good stuff. If it didn't come from the ocean you don't want it.

I don't personally glue my rocks, just stack them so they are secure. At some point you will want to move/remove a rock and if they are all glued you are in trouble.

There are quite a few fans of BB around here. It's a different animal but has it's advantages over sand in some areas, but you have already mentioned the aesthetics of sand so you may not like the looks of BB. I'm sure one of it's proponents will answer you too.

[mkilbur5]

hop thanks again i took a pic of my tank but can't seem to load

[wyliecoyote]

the sand will settle to the bottom.

[Jnicho]

One other thought. You might want to research about getting your rocks up off the bottom. You can do that while the CC is out and before the sand goes in.

[mkilbur5]

[mkilbur5]

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[hng]

Removing the crushed coral will be best. It's coarse size tends to allow detritus to sink into it and become very difficult to remove. The same thing will happen with fine sized sand particles.