best substrate for my new 55g?

[hadla]

most likely getting the 55g setup from walmart on friday cause its the cheapest, dont know where ill get a stand yet. salinitys going to be at 1.004 or so. i dont want to use much of whats in my 20g cause it wont look natural in a future marine setup. i hate to use just sand right now too cause i dont want to have to worry about stirring it up every now and then. i was thinking of putting a thin layer of whats in the 20g right now and then getting some white gravel(which shouldnt show up when its fully marine with sand or crushed coral or whatever. but what about my plants? or should i just keep fake ones in the 55g for now? i think ill leave all the live ones in the 20g for the shrimp since there wont be any flourite in the 55. so whats your opinion on my substrate choices? (only kirby will be in the tank along with whatever snails she doesnt eat at the moment. brought luigi back to the lfs cause i dont think he was happy in my tank. i felt bad for keeping him, i think he likes to be around other gsps)

[Jay.B.]

just personal preference here, but I'd go straight for coral sand / crushed coral
As well as looking really nice, It will also help to maintain a pH of around 8

[yunachin]

I use aragonite in all of my SW tanks and in my Fahaka tank.

[Pufferpunk]

What's the pH in your fahaka tank?

[yunachin]

7.4
I have some driftwood in there to keep it stabilized.

[hadla]

ok so if i go for crushed coral, i dont have to stir it around at all? and should i just do a thin layer of my current flourite/sand/gravel stuff under it so it cant be seen but the bacteria goes into the coral?

[Jay.B.]

I just use coral sand approx 2" deep with nothing underneath. It gets a bit of a stir once a week before I do my water change.
I like a deep layer of substrate so I can do a bit of landscaping