Barebottom Reefers vs Sand Bed Reefers: Which one are you?

[Popkorn0407]

Bare bottom, i have a acropora 200g, i pref big healty and collorfull colonies blast whit very hight flow in hight ligh to a sand bed. I can't archeve this really hight flow tank whit sand

 

[Gammon60]

I will agree that a sand bed does look better than BB but with an SPS dominate tank I like BB better as you can increase the flow to lift everything up and over the overflow to take it out with your filtration. With that being said be prepared as it will take a BB tank much longer to become stable for those finicky SPS corals but once it does it is much easier to take care of than a SB tank. Just my 2 cents

 

[Thunderrap]

I personally love the look of the sand bed and it also allows you to keep a different variety of fish/inverts that you can't keep with a BB tank.

 

[ClownWrangler]

Aragalive black, especially if using dry rock. This stuff hosts more copepods than fine sand or bare bottom and really does instantly cycle a tank.

 

[Karen00]

1. Sand or BB: My slice of the ocean will always have sand.
2. Why: I like the look but more than that it's because the creatures I like to keep need it. I don't think I will ever get bored watching my pistol move all the sand from one side of the tank to the other (it's a 5g) while his goby buddy keeps a vigilant eye for intruders.

I probably should've selected "Other" because my pistol doesn't mind leaving half the tank BB nor my attempts to move it back.

 

[Emerson]

Sand, for sure. I do get the appeal of bare bottom.

It does take a little extra work, and can be the place where "stuff" accumulates, peroiodic cleaining in conjunction with water changes takes care of that. In my opinion it gives a more natural look, and allows for the other animals I like in my tank. Wrasses, sand sifting gobies, snails, shrimp, starfish, and others. My favorite symbiotic relationship in my tank is a pair of orange strip prawn gobies with a tiger pistol shrimp.

 

[LDH]

Bare bottom ! I have a 700 gallon system and am using the triton no waterchange method so didn’t want to deal with sand maintenance. Sure it doesn’t look as natural for the first 6 months but then corraline grows all over the bottom and it looks beautiful without the maintenance. Downside is no non fairy wrasses or burrowers but there’s plenty of other fish in the sea

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Personally, I like the way sand looks in a LPS/low flow tank. On the other hand, having sand in a heavy SPS display has really never worked for me. The flow demands of SPS really make it hard for sand to stay looking nice. Another thing that may put sand aside is the fact that it can crash your tank given enough time (old tank syndrome), I had this happen when about 4 years worth of gunk got trapped under the rock structure On my new 60 gallon build it will be all SPS and bare bottom.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I enjoy the look of sand and the contrast it brings and some of the animals you can keep with it. Both methods have good and bad points beyond aesthetics and personal preference. At the end of the day; Reef how the F you want

 

[chaoticreefer]

Bare bottom

I have switched back and forth with sand and bare bottom a couple times, even in same tank. Sand always ends up becoming a problem even with vacuuming (if you choose to or not, I have tried both ways too) and trying to replace a third of sand per year. Bare bottom is a lot easier to take care of, you just vacuum where the waste settles, usually in one pile. While sand looks more natural where you would like to wander though barefooted, but I actually think bare bottom look somewhat natural too. In fact I think "bare bottom" is a completely wrong term, it should be called something like "rock bottom". While the flatness doesn't look natural, but once coralline algae takes over it looks like rock, it can be gorgeous if 100% covered and so many different colors of coralline algae.

 

[ReefRondo]

I love sand for so many reasons however my newest office tank is bare bottom. I have to say cranking that flow is a game changer for me.

 

[bnord]

Sand except of course in the new frag tank.
There is not a right or wrong, but like to try to reproduce an environment and what lives in the sand is a good part of the system. Tiger, and fighting conchs, nassarius, spaghetti worms etc all are joys for me in the system. Have a couple of clams on the bottom that just wouldn't look right IMO on glass.
Although I do AWC for the most parti still do a heavy sand cleaning every 2-3 months and replace the volume with fresh sand when I do

 

[blazn]

Years ago, I had a crushed coral substrate, migrated to bare-bottom, and now I have sand. I prefer sand, for the wildlife that utilizes it and the look. I have plenty of flow to keep most detritus in the water column without causing any "sand storms" and conch & nassarius snails keep it stirred up. Sometimes I do vacuum a subset of the sand during water changes, but it takes no more work than it did with bare-bottom.

 

[Simon Reefing]

BB to many issues with sand. I vacuumed the sand all the time but always had something. Every time I have sand in my display I get dinos. I rather have a BB and have corals grow over it. I have a few zoas growing on it now

 

[McPuff]

I chose other because I have both. Display has sand though about 1/3 of it is now bare because of the flow. That glass is covered in coralline algae so it looks pretty good.

My 75 gallon lagoon (attached) is barebottom because I have two triggers in there, in tends to have debris settle out there, and because I just didn't feel like adding sand at the time. Now that the bottom is getting covered in coralline it looks pretty good. I do prefer the way sand looks though and have thoughts about adding sand at times.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I like sand, but in my lps/grow out/qt coral tanks, I have bare bottom.

 

[mmarine9]

for my SPS tank without a doubt barebottom, takes a little longer to get going but i have added a fuge area in the sump with sand and i do not keep any fish or inverts that require sand.

 

[sghera64]

My 135 Gal DT is a deep sand bed, but my 50 Gal grow out is a bare bottom. Both are connected by a shared sump.

 

[christianb]

Sand definitely, looks better and more natural if well maintained, more places for bacteria and good for certain fish. Deep vs shallow sand bed would be another topic to discuss.

 

[Zeedawg]

Sand for bacteria. My diamond head goby spits is everywhere though, so its a bit high maintenance...