Are you a bare bottom or sand bed reefer?

[Reefer Matt]

It depends on what the tank is for, in my case. Display tanks have sand, frag tanks are completely bare, with rock in the sump.

 

[rgulrich]

Layer of coral rubble that with time (and the help of a couple of urchins) provided a bit of fine sand. Lots of water movement threw the original sand bed around way too much, and lots of critters like having something to crawl around on.
Cheers,
Ray

 

[GHOSTLY]

Weird here. So I have had sand beds and bare bottom BUT I use one aio chamber and fill jt with sand and chaeto like a mini lagoon kinda. Here and there ill put mangroves too

 

[shakacuz]

SB for sure. i like wrasses and pistol shrimp/goby pairs

 

[atoll]

In a sentence. Is there sand on the bottom of the reef? In which case am in.

 

[richarddeweerd]

Sand bed, and I always will be. I have done all the variations of sand bed that I can think of and between you and me, I like what I have right now the most. I have about 1cm of sand throughout the tank with some areas as shallow as a few grains of sand. Rarely see the glass though.

I have the same, as minimal sand as possible to just cover the glass.

 

[o2manyfish]

Sand is so much prettier. But having kept large acrylic reef tanks for decades now, having sand in the bottom of an acrylic tank and using a magnetic scraper will lead to a not so pretty tank - if you are a lazy hapless reefer like myself. Without sand I've run tanks for up to 18 years and had beautiful aquariums and super healthy reef tanks.

My new 750g is bare bottom - The tank could definitely be alot prettier with a sand bed. But running high flow (Hydrowizard ECM63 and (2) Abyzz Flow Canons) - a consistent sand bed is impossible.

A lack of sand doesn't rule out as many 'sand critical' inhabitants as some might think. Yellow coris wrasses, Lineatus, Rhomboids, Flasher, Solaris, Filament, and many others have done extremely well without sand beds to sleep in.

Dave B

 

[bandando]

I love DSB

 

[Reefbuds]

Deep sand bed all the way. It looks great and adds that natural biodiversity needed in a reef, imo.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I still plan on adding a Leopard Wrasse Harem someday so I have a couple inches of sand. However, the sand has blown into the corners and ends of the tank making much of it bare bottom. I have a Melanurus Wrasse that seems to like it that way.

 

[ying yang]

As most have said above,all depends on what livestock I'm keeping or planning on keeping along with I think sandbed looks alot better.
I've got sand sleeping wrasse and pistol shrimp and nassarious snails and have had couple off conches but can't keep a conch past 6 months for some reason.
I know I could have container off sand behind the rocks for a wrasse and if big enough ,also nassarious snails I guess or what I'm guessing above poster means by not having a sandbed ,it doesn't have to limit keeping sand dwelling creatures, I guess they mean container off sand or no sand at all which I wouldn't do Jo sand as guessing will be stressful for the fish ( just a guess) but my silver belly wrasse continually dive bombs the sand then comes straight back up and him and other fish then go around picking off the micro fauna that now in the water column,quite clever but complete pain for any corals that are on sand bed or on rock islands as get covered in sand so I'm putting or at least partly the wrasses fault why lost a few corals this way.
My 5 year old girl loves it when people come to visit and she says daddy feed the tank and show these the zombie snails coming out the sand and I still find cool also
I can see benefit off corals that do well in very high flow having bb but I like sps but prefer the movement of softies and lps.
Aesthetically I prefer look of sandbed also and all the little critters that call the sandbed home as if I'm honest I get more enjoyment after lights out watching the tank zoomed in on video ony phone watching all the critters coming out for the night shift ha ha

 

[ReefRondo]

I honestly never thought I’d go bare bottom however since trying it I doubt I will have sand again unless it is a tank purely for LPS and softies.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Sand bed for my main tank and travel tanks. Bare bottom for my grow out and qt tanks.

 

[neo1738]

Feel Like SB looks more realistic to the ocean. Sand all the way.

 

[BigSkyRich]

Just wondering this morning about the bare bottom versus sand bed debate.

Unless I’ve missed it, I haven’t seen that much debate as of late. I see sand beds all the time but not many bare bottom tanks.

Are you a bare bottom or sand bed reefer?

image via @Roberto Denadai

I currently have 2 larger tanks (one mixed and one FO and use sandbed. I decided to play around a little with a Waterbox Cube 20, barebottom, marco rock for just corals only. Well, its not starting out very well. Major algae and cyano issues - can't say its due to BB, Its (hopefully) Dr Tim's to the rescue, which was received in the mail today

 

[ScubaShane]

I love the assthetics of sand but now I'm bare bottom after 21 years of reefing. The old timers know with a mature tank that has been established for a few years is a chemistry explosion. It used to be a deep sand bed 3"+ keeps your eco system stable. Well 3-5 years later BOOM! Alk drops, PH drops Nitrates sky high, fish dead, corals dying. Took a bit to figure it out. Then a few of us started to see gas bubbles getting released from the sand bed. Eurika! Sure you can now use a thin layer and keep vacuuming/siphoning it out but now your putting detritus in the water column. I put so much work into coral and fish health I'd rather not mess with sand. Gives me a little more time for husbandry. So in my experience for a successful long term reef 5 years plus is bare bottom wich becomes covered in Coraline and corals so technically it's not bare bottom anymore.

 

[w8lifts]

I have a coralline algae bottom = )

 

[Snitch]

I've been in the hobby over 20 years now - Every single one of my tanks have had sand beds - except the one I just set up. I've gone BB for this build, I can't comment on whether I like it or not yet, but so far, so good.

 

[OlafsReef]

Have had and do have both. BB is much easier to take care of. SB can look nicer and offers a few more critter options, but is a headache at times... See you all in 20 years when we are still asking this question

 

[Rewd]

What does everyone think about a barebottom tank with encrusting montis on the bottom? I know I saw a tank like this recently but can't find it again. I think it's a neat idea I'm contemplating for my next 120g I'm getting ready to set up