That is a good point but a BB is so much easier to clean than a sand bottom tank, its one of the main reasons I like it
Bare bottom or not to bare bottom??
- Thread starter 120reefkeeper
- Start date
- Tagged users None
I am a newbie to salt water but not aquariums. For me it was never a question, I went sand. For me though it was strictly for the aesthetics, I like the look of sand in my fresh water and my now my salt water. I have plans for bigger salt water and have no doubt I will go sand with them as well. On my 34 gallon now, I'm doing the method of stirring the sand everyday to keep it clean. It takes about 5 min on a small tank, I'm not sure how viable that method will be when I go bigger.
Ocean Lotion
Well-Known Member
I will be upgrading from my 75 to a 90 and 30 plumbed together. I have sand now and though I do gravel vac during h2o changes I o:asionally bring out my huge cleaning pump, stir the sand and clean it that way. Always amazed at the amount of crap still in the sand though I gravel vac. I will start bb and see how I like it. I can always add sand later if I want.
Ramon Estevez
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2017
- Messages
- 135
- Reaction score
- 46
To me bare bottom loses an aspect of what the reef tank should be. I’ve always gone as close to what nature would intend. Plus I love my wrasses and sand sifters.
Ramon Estevez
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2017
- Messages
- 135
- Reaction score
- 46
On my 125 I do the same a few days I choose a sections to stir up. That way it’s not a tedious thing and I don’t freak the fish out to much.
OP
OP
120reefkeeper
Reef keeping with Military Precision!
I’m surprised with a bare bottom tank that you’d have much detritus to vacuum up. With no sand I figured that it would end up getting flushed into the filtration system. I thought this was one of the positive aspects of running bare bottom.
I guess when you run sand maybe it just accumulates more than with a bare bottom??
I guess when you run sand maybe it just accumulates more than with a bare bottom??
glyn
New Member
There's no doubt that bare bottom tanks are just easier to manage. No worrying about sand storms, so you can crank the flow to 11.
I've got a bb tank and, as far as I'm concerned, you've hit the nail on the head there.
alten78
Active Member
I went bare bottom a year and a half ago after 10+ years of sand and will never look back but I was also surprised at how much detritus accumulates in lower flow areas. My tank is SPS dominant with lots of flow and it still accumulates in a few spots, a quick siphon once a week or so takes care of it.
The only reason i initially tried BB was because my two clowns constantly kicked up sand which drove me crazy. I will have to say I was anti-barebottom for many years because of the "unnatural" look, I painted the bottom white and have some encrusting montis growing which to me looks crisp and clean...of course that is still subjective but fellow reefers have been over and left with a different view of BB.
I always thought i did a good job of vacuuming my sand but the few times over the years where i had to move and/or upgrade tanks, the sand was nasty as could be. Maybe (probably) I didn't do a good enough job of keeping up with it even though it looked good but now my OCD forces me to keep it clear of detritus
You can setup it up as BB and always add sand later if you hate it.
tagging on along on this one. I'm getting ready to start my first 115 gal tall tank curious to see peoples thoughts... my plan all along is to use around a 1 inch sand bed.. for those of you that prefer sand what methods work best for keeping it clean and detritus low?
barebottom. I rang my biocube with sand for 1.5 years, then slowly going barebottom. My maintainance take lot less time now. As my different corals have grown up, it became harder and harder to clean the sand. I had to crank up my mp10 as well, due to more and more sps addition.
Barebottom is definitely lot easier to maintain. I dont like the look though, but probably that will be fixed as and when corals start growing in the bottom
Barebottom is definitely lot easier to maintain. I dont like the look though, but probably that will be fixed as and when corals start growing in the bottom
happyhourhero
Burner of the Tips
Corals encrusting along the bottom is very appealing to me. I will always be sandless.
HmoneyReefOkc
Active Member
I Agree with @revhtree .... worth noting is if you have a somewhat decent sized tank the flow issues can create quite an ordeal in sand mounds and portions of the tank being bare bottom... i used to fight the portion on my old tank that was bare bottom as a result of too much flow but i finally gave up and opted to get optimal flow throughout the tank and to just put encrusting corals in the bare bottom portion to eventually take that over... also worth noting if you go this combined route of allowing sand mounds and having some bare bottom the encrusting corals will take some hits as some sand will inevetably cover portions of them killing that or inhibiting it’s growth. I found that a good option for this area is zoa this and palythoas.
that would be a good idea, still only spend 5 min a day but still get the sand stirred up.
My current DT of 48"x12x20 is BB, the next DT will be a 72"x18x20 120g. The new DT will have two sections.
The sand section (maybe 1/3) will be at the far-end of the wave maker, where my Condy anemone and 4-color BTA will be stranded on an island surrounded by sand. I'll use two sizes of aqua scaping clear rods to build a wall to hold the sand. Then I can get some sand dwellers for that section.
The sand section (maybe 1/3) will be at the far-end of the wave maker, where my Condy anemone and 4-color BTA will be stranded on an island surrounded by sand. I'll use two sizes of aqua scaping clear rods to build a wall to hold the sand. Then I can get some sand dwellers for that section.
wattson
Valuable Member
Go bare bottom,,save your self money in the beginning ,,plus you save yourself a TON of aggravation as long as your tank is up/running..
so what that you wont be able to keep a FEW specific sand dwelling creatures..
so what that you wont be able to keep a FEW specific sand dwelling creatures..
To me that comment sums up the debate in itself. Plus my poor Mandarin would miss it's food that the sand provides. No to me a reef tank needs its sandbed.
wattson
Valuable Member
yep +1
Similar threads
