Vacuuming vs live crushed coral

[jassz]

Hi all. Each day I discover more and more rocks that are starting to turn in to stunning live rocks. I love it! But this week I noticed that some of the crushed coral (which covers the bottom instead of gravel) is starting to turn green and red too. I hadn't counted on that, but I'm happy, I guess. LOL My only concern is I have been vaccuming this crushed coral each week with the water changes, but I'm not sure I should continue. Do I even have a choice? I mean, I have to vaccum, right, even if I have to sacrifice the algae?

[banditpowdercoat]

I havn;t vacuumed fmy sand/gravel in 6 months. ANd all is GREAT. yes, the larger stones and such will get coraline covering. But I found, in my tank anyways, vacuuming the sand acctually exposed the anaerobic layer and released more nitrates.

[jassz]

From what I've been told, you either have to vaccum religiously, or not at all. I am nervous to do not at all. :surprise: I have a predator tank, so quite a load.

[whatcaneyedo]

I keep a volitan lionfish and snowflake moray in my 120gal with only a 1" thick sugar sand bed. I used to use crushed coral but I really didnt like the look of it. The large particle size tends to trap and hold a lot of detritus. But if you plan on keeping it and dont want the hassle of siphoning each week you could remove some of it so that you only have a thin <1" layer. Then just give it a stir once a week and let your filtration pull the gunk out.

[Myka]

You have to vacuum crushed coral otherwise too much detritus gets trapped and it will increase nitrates substantially. If it were sand, then you shouldn't vacuum, you just surface skim with a siphon hose.