[mleibowi]

Hi All,

I have a 55 gal demasoni/yellow lab tank that is thriving- lots of babies, healthy fish etc... the only problem is that my sand substrate has destroyed my HOB filters. I've replaced motors and impellers countless times. I've taken all the necessary precautions- covering the intake tubing, lowering the sand level near the filters etc.., but I'm pretty much fed up shelling out money to replace these expensive parts. I am thinking about switching to the crushed coral. Anybody have experience with crushed coral as an substrate for african tanks? How much should I buy- 40lbs enough? What brand do you suggest, colors etc... Thanks folks!

Mike

 

[PfunMo]

I think you will find there are small bits of abrasive stuff in almost all coral as well.

 

[DJRansome]

Crushed coral is white. It is the hardest-to-clean material I have ever worked with. It does not buy you any buffering or increase in pH so if I wanted gravel I would just buy regular aquarium gravel...not crushed coral.

But...I don't understand why covering the intakes with a sponge could possibly allow any sand through?

And...I have sand in two tanks...never replaced an impeller for 5 years so far. The only impeller I ever DID replace was due to a power failure...filter lost its prime when power came back on a filter ran dry for a day before anyone noticed.

 

[rgr4475]

That's strange on the motors and impellers. I've never had problems either in 2 of my tanks with sand. How long are your intakes? How close are they to the sand? Also just curious what kind of filter(s) it was.

 

[Jesseschu]

I also have sand in my 75 g tank. I have a canister filter, and HOB and under (sand) jets. For the first few months with sand, my tank was crystal clear. I do regular water changes. Now it is starting to get a bit hazy. I have not had problems with impellers and motors, but the haze is a bummer. I do have coarse sponges on all of my filter intakes. Any advice on clearing up the haze.

 

[adam0444]

I've never had problems with sands destroying my filters and I had messy playsand. If you covered the intake not sure how sand got in maybe something else is causing problems?

 

[Grumblecakes]

*** been using coral for about 7-8 months now and i really like it. *** had it get sucked up and make terrible noises but never any damage. this always occurred when i forgot to kill a pump. except one time when my troupheous (RIP) began digging and would take the sand from one side of the tank over to the intake and spit into it.

the one think i really dont like about coral is it shows poo bad. i have to bn plecos that just poo all night. i was spot vaccing every day after work. recently i mixed in play sand as part of deepening the bed for when my shellies come in. the color is still whitish, which i like but brown enough that the poo is harder to spot. gives a nice flecked appearance that i really like too.