No more sand for me,at least with large tanks

RonnieBlack · Apr 14, 2014

I do love a nice sandbed and and rockin fuge. when I set up my 180 I was told by my mentor to go bare bottom for 3 months and I did. The things that get in your sump and on your aquarium floor was enough for me to not use any sand. Po4 tests are always not detected on my testing equipment, I'm sure there are some. My nitrates, are awesome corals are growing faster. I know people keep successful tanks with sand beds and respect the fact that its a choice, I'm not saying one is better than the other. I'm only saying I've had better success personally going this route and yeah,I'm jonsin for a sandbed...maybe set my cube up with a nice sand bad? ;p

revhtree · Apr 15, 2014

How long have you been without sand?

luke33 · Apr 15, 2014

I have had bb tanks and sand tanks for years. I'm to the point now where i'll never have sand in any tank. BB's just always have better water quality and much better growth for me. I can generally throw anything in a bb tank and it colors up quickly. In sanded tank's its always hit or miss. I've also never had a crash with a bb tank. I think sanded tank's are just a ticking time bomb that eventually goes off.

KorL · Apr 15, 2014

If you can do without sand burrowing fish then I prefer BB as well.

iTzJu · Apr 15, 2014

I learned my lesson with a separate frag tank. no sand was used just pieces of live rock and the growth and health of the corals far exceeded what was in my display with a sandbed. water quality was better without me even really doing anything.

I went bare bottom on my downgrade, once your tank if filled with corals you don't even notice you don't have sand.

RonnieBlack · Apr 15, 2014

I've been totally sand free for over a year...a bare bottom really really lets you see what goes into yous sand bed..and no amount of syphoning in the world will remove that..

Intricateart · Apr 15, 2014

We love the sand bottom, and we have so many worms, brittle stars, and even a couple fighting conch, so it stays nice and clean. The pistol shrimp would be so sad without it! I've heard of people having problems with them, but it can work if you have it probably established with life.

zemuss · Apr 15, 2014

So even a ince of sand would store a build up of phos or nitrates? If it were a deep sand bed maybe but an inch or two?

TJ's Reef · Apr 15, 2014

I to would be all in for a BB Reeftank as most all maintenance issues are simplified but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, just cannot get past the look. Tried for about 6-months then just had to add the sand. I have seen many 100's of Reeftanks over the years and with many dozen's of them being BB setups. To date not one of them has been what I'd call 'Natural Looking'. This of course is my opinion only but, the only one that matters in my home for my Reef. The closest to 'doable' for me was one where they had used spray foam on the bottom then had sculpted it to look like base Limestone structure and was fairly covered in various Coralline Algae. For me the abundance of life that resides in the sand bed greatly out weighs the benefits of BB systems and with an appropriate sand based CUC is not a big deal on the maintenance side. As you can also tell from my avatar am a big fan of the Leopard Wrasse, which would be awful upset with me if I removed his sandy bed. I would love to see some pics of systems by Reefkeepers that have truly addressed the issue of BB aesthetics as in no large obvious flat areas in view and of course no frag plugs either. I'm not trying to 'Rain on anyone's Parade' but am questioning the reasons of going BB beyond the 'Easier Method' of Reefkeeping. I have had an 'Ultra-high Bio-load Reef' with sand beds or even crushed coral substrate for many many years and never have had some of issues stated above for the reason going/switching to BB in Display Tanks. Looking forward to seeing some of your BB systems and how you addressed the aesthetics of it.

Cheers, Todd

-Logzor · Apr 15, 2014

RonnieBlack said:
I do love a nice sandbed and and rockin fuge. when I set up my 180 I was told by my mentor to go bare bottom for 3 months and I did. The things that get in your sump and on your aquarium floor was enough for me to not use any sand. Po4 tests are always not detected on my testing equipment, I'm sure there are some. My nitrates, are awesome corals are growing faster. I know people keep successful tanks with sand beds and respect the fact that its a choice, I'm not saying one is better than the other. I'm only saying I've had better success personally going this route and yeah,I'm jonsin for a sandbed...maybe set my cube up with a nice sand bad? ;p

Amen! Been BB for quite some time now, very happen with the configuration. Went back to sand for awhile only to siphon it all out.

stylaster · Apr 15, 2014

I run my 312 gallon SPS tank without any sand... all bare bottom. Been up and running for 1 year and 3 months without an issue

-Logzor · Apr 15, 2014

TJ's Reef said:
I to would be all in for a BB Reeftank as most all maintenance issues are simplified but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, just cannot get past the look. Tried for about 6-months then just had to add the sand. I have seen many 100's of Reeftanks over the years and with many dozen's of them being BB setups. To date not one of them has been what I'd call 'Natural Looking'. This of course is my opinion only but, the only one that matters in my home for my Reef. The closest to 'doable' for me was one where they had used spray foam on the bottom then had sculpted it to look like base Limestone structure and was fairly covered in various Coralline Algae. For me the abundance of life that resides in the sand bed greatly out weighs the benefits of BB systems and with an appropriate sand based CUC is not a big deal on the maintenance side. As you can also tell from my avatar am a big fan of the Leopard Wrasse, which would be awful upset with me if I removed his sandy bed. I would love to see some pics of systems by Reefkeepers that have truly addressed the issue of BB aesthetics as in no large obvious flat areas in view and of course no frag plugs either. I'm not trying to 'Rain on anyone's Parade' but am questioning the reasons of going BB beyond the 'Easier Method' of Reefkeeping. I have had an 'Ultra-high Bio-load Reef' with sand beds or even crushed coral substrate for many many years and never have had some of issues stated above for the reason going/switching to BB in Display Tanks. Looking forward to seeing some of your BB systems and how you addressed the aesthetics of it.

Cheers, Todd

In my opinion, the solution to the aesthetics is to have absolutely nothing on the floor of the bare bottom aquarium. This allows all attention to be drawn to the rock work and corals. The impact is huge when this is done. I'm currently working on migrating all the crap I have glued to the bottom up onto the rock.

ws6kid · Apr 15, 2014

Sand does look natural, but if not properly maintained can also detract from the beauty of the coral and fish we work so hard to keep alive. Like everything in this hobby, there is more than one way to success.

swissgaurd · Apr 15, 2014

ive used undergravel filtration with 2 inches of crushed coral.
done barebottom
done plenum.
the most success ive had with fish and corals is a deep sand bed.
first deep sandbed with 4" bed was setup for 10 yrs
im now on my second 4" sandbed that has been setup for 2 yrs I wouldn't setup another tank unless its a 4" sandbed

I also have found that it takes about 2 yrs for the sandbed to work the way it should.
so patience is a big factor here.

Joe G · Apr 15, 2014

I am planning going BB on my new build I'm about to start soon.
Before I spend a bunch of extra cash can someone let me know exactly what I need and don't need to run a successfully BB tank.
I'm just about to order a custom sump but I have noticed in some arrivals people who use BB tanks don't need to grow chato. Is that true?
Also I already bought a gfo carbon reactor do I need it?
Is a UV light needed?
I know a lot of people in fl use starboard is that needed or can I set the rocks directly on the glass.
The tank is a deep blue 80 gal frag tank.
Can I use black starboard instead of white?

I have run a very successful reef tank for over five years now and feel I have a very good grasp on how to run a solid sps tank but anytime I decide to try something different I get nervous .
Any advice to help the process will be much appreciated.

fishroomlady · Apr 15, 2014

if you have a lot of experience and success with a certain methodology, why change?

Joe G · Apr 15, 2014

Well for one the tank I just got is very shallow.
It's only 17 " tall so a 3or 4 inch sand bed is gonna give me even less room for rock and coral.
The next thing reason is to just try something new with a different tank . I figure if I don't like it I can always add sand later .
I figure it's eayser to add sand then it is to remove sand

fishroomlady · Apr 16, 2014

makes sense - that would be a lot of sand in a shallow tank

RonnieBlack · Apr 19, 2014

I am gonna have a DSB tank, but its gonna be a very small tank, with near zero bio-load..I can remove the sand and replace it with hardly any cost...The crap that came out of my sump/fuge made me almost puke..I kid you not...oh man did it ever...Stomach is rolling thinking about it