Are you a bare bottom or sand bed reefer?

[MnFish1]

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 don't that is the sand bed he is talking about - but it's unclear - I agree with you - a little sand - even with a little glass. I do not believe that a 'thick sand bed - lets say an inch or more is either beneficial or necessary - unless you have fish that require sand

 

[HankstankXXL750]

I’m a sand bed lover. Lots of fish and inverts that I love to watch in it. Don’t so much love when my diamond goby covers my Blastos and Acans, but that is just another piece of the game.

 

[KK's Reef]

Sand bed always. Bare bottom is great for the stickhead crowd, and it has its merits, but if you think about it, our tanks are a tiny slice of the reef, and I've never seen a reef with a bare bottom. Aesthetically, sand looks better IMO.

 

[EugeneVan]

Bare bottom with green lawn anytime for me

 

[jabberwock]

I am currently sandless, but this is just to get me through the observation period of my live rock. Afterwards I will add a sand bed.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I started most recent tank Bare but added just a LITTLE sand making it minimul sand bottom

 

[AaronFReef]

I started most recent tank Bare but added just a LITTLE sand making it minimul sand bottom

What motivated you to change it? I can’t imagine sand working in my tank with the flow I’m trying for but I keep wondering if I should add some…..

 

[noelskii]

Starboard FTW!

 

[vetteguy53081]

What motivated you to change it? I can’t imagine sand working in my tank with the flow I’m trying for but I keep wondering if I should add some…..

There was algae growth on bottom glass and was not going to try to clean it so added enough sand to cover it. In turn, most of the algae has died off

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I used to be sand and switched to BB when I took my tank down to redo some plumbing. I absolutely love it. It's easy to clean, catch hitchhikers and eliminates the opportunity for the tank to get stinky!

 

[JCOLE]

I chose other because I love sand and have always used sand but my new tank is currently a barebottom.

I originally had over 600lbs of special grade and crushed coral waiting until the tank was built.

The tank is a 500 gallon peninsula and flow is pretty difficult as is. I couldn't imagine trying with sand. So far I am loving it. So clean and easy to maintain high flow. I do miss the look of sand though.

If anyone is local to Charlotte, NC and would like sand/gravel at a great price then let me know!

 

[ilawis]

I'm one of the few who chose other at the moment and it's not entirely intentional,
I've got a problem with high phosphates and vermited snails as such I removed everything from my tank except the fish and 5 corals that are too large for my nano (kinda like a QT).
In that process I added in some new rock and a bag of brand new sand at one end of my tank. Because I'm using 2 gyre it's keeping 99% of the sand at one end of the tank about 1-2" deep that I have 3 rocks on and this keeps my wrasse's happy.
The other end being bare bottom is just rocks and corals.
So overall BB no brissle worm but just looks incomplete without the sand and I don't like the look of the algie on the glass bottom overall it is easier to keep but I feel it's that easy because your just taking a element away from being matained and not caring the the bottom looks like a patchwork quilt from grandma's.
With sand - being that is new sand I've got very little brissle worm so it's not bad yet but they are there.
I've got some algie on the sand where the wrasses are not digging because there is no rocks around there but I love the character the fish have around the sand they are much more active and playful over sand, the amount of personality and enjoyment the fish display in the area is markedly different and I think this is overlooked by many hobbyists when making the decision on to go BB or sand (it's also probably not really known because not many people have a system where they can do the comparison like me), and to be clear it's not only the wrasses that are more lively it's all the fish except the file fish (he's just a bit grumbly because there is now less cave work and algie in the tank (I know it's algie because I scraped the back wall because it was covered with it and he went to the dark corner and sulked) it's more like he just wants to be around hard surfaces or anything with lots of algie on. And the tangs and rabbit fish want caves

 

[Scorpius]

Bare bottom. Why? I work a crap ton of hours sometimes no days off for weeks. Bare bottom simplifies maintenance for me and allows me to keep my corals alive. It is difficult to get a system going bare bottom, but the blood, sweat, and tears are worth it.

 

[SamsReef]

Light sand bed with tropic Eden reef flakes. Love the look of sparkling white sand and the dunes it creates with different flows…looks like sand beach and ocean inside the ocean. Added benefits of being able to keep sand dwelling fishes. I really wanted to like the bare bottom and tried for a while but… Frag tank however is bare bottom.

Sam

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Sandbed for me - mine is about 2" at the front and 4" towards the back of the tank. I prefer the natural look, and love my sand sleeping wrasses, sandsifters and jawfish. Plus all that extra surface area for biological filtration is always a plus.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Light sand bed with tropic Eden reef flakes. Love the look of sparkling white sand and the dunes it creates with different flows…looks like sand beach and ocean inside the ocean. Added benefits of being able to keep sand dwelling fishes. I really wanted to like the bare bottom and tried for a while but… Frag tank however is bare bottom.

Sam

Tropic Eden sand is my absolute favorite - I used the mini flakes and Tonga pink in my current tank.

 

[Alexopora]

Sand bed for me. I love cuc hence I would have small hermits, mini brittle stars scuttling around the sandbed. I just feel that sandbed really completes the look and provide a habitat for other beneficial organisms like bacteria, pods, worms etc. Also really enjoy my nassarius snail and scarlet dragonet burrowing itself in the sand.

 

[BaghdadBean]

I voted other because after years of running mixed SPS, LPS, & softy tanks from VDSB to DSB, I’m swapping over to primarily SPS and bare bottom in the acrylic display tank. I scratched the crap out of the glass on my Oceanic because of sand and a magnetic scraper, so when I had the acrylic tank built, there was NO way I wanted to deal with sand and acrylic. Also, I use closed loops with Oceans Motions 4 ways (yep, still chugging with occasional swapping of the magnets to apply new epoxy on them), and sand can really chum up an OM 4way. However, I do have a remote VDSB in my sump/refugium. I’m planning to run seagrass in it after it’s had a few years to collect detritus and deepen the bio load. In the meantime, it’s home to inverts of all sorts.

 

[Zoa.Mania]

Bare bottom tanks are looking better IMO but it’s only good if you can come by with a good quality live rock.
I am from Israel and it’s really hard if impossible to find that. So most tanks start with dry rock so sand has to be there to support biological processes

 

[trevorhiller]

I voted other because I'm using calcium reactor media in a 1-2 cm layer - Two Little Fishies Reborn to be specific.

You get the look of sand, without having to scrape the bottom to keep it clean and can crank the flow up pretty high. I think it's the best compromise. Plus I think it looks nice once the media starts to grow coralline algae.