Removing sand and go bare bottom?

[creef]

Hi,

Tanks been running for 9 months, all parameters in check except phosphate which I can never seem to get down.

Moving house in a few weeks and currently have a 2 inch sand bed. Constantly covered in cyano/algae which I’ve been battling since tank started.

Heard that bare bottom tanks can be very successful and sometimes less maintenance, wondering if I could remove the sand during the move (since everything’s being taken out anyway) and then when I set up the tank again go bare bottom and ditch the sand.

Any opinions/advice? I’ve seen you should remove sand slowly due to nutrients entering water, but if the water is already stored out the tank would removing at once still be a worry?

 

[Chubbycat]

do you check yout silica in your RO water ? I had problem with algae because it silica keep phosphate all the time high. Now i add another silica filter for my RO and it is help a lot. My RO system from BRS and I believe it is 4 stages.

 

[creef]

I get my RO from the lfs each week, I’ll test my next batch and see if that’s the issue as I’ve tried everything to lower it

 

[EliteReefing1023]

One month into my first barebottom tank after having sand in my tanks for 10+ years and I’m gonna have to say, I miss the sand. If you plan to go sps and higher flow, I would recommend bare bottom but sand all the way for lps/softy tanks

 

[creef]

One month into my first barebottom tank after having sand in my tanks for 10+ years and I’m gonna have to say, I miss the sand. If you plan to go sps and higher flow, I would recommend bare bottom but sand all the way for lps/softy tanks

My tank is mainly lps/soft! Why would you recommend keeping sand for them?

 

[exnisstech]

Bare bottom can be successful but I wouldn't expect removing sand to cure everything. 9 months is very young and the tank is still maturing.
You mention high phosphate, what is yours testing at?
This tank which happens to be bare bottom has been running for 15 months and is currently testing PO4 at 0.8 (not 0.08) It has never been below 0.3 at any time. Tested with Hanna ULR phosphate.
I have zero nuisance algae.

This one bare bottom as well but runs much lower nutrients than the one above.

I would invest in an RO system. I don't trust others when it comes water, RODI or premixed salt. The units are not that expensive and the convience of always being able to have water on hand for changes and for emergencies makes the cost well worth it IMO..

EDIT: I forgot about this one that has been down for a few years now. Bare bottom as well and LPS didn't seem to mind.

 

[EliteReefing1023]

Sand also provides a coarse enough texture for some soft and lps to grow on it rather than grow and encrust right pn the bottom glass like I’ve seen a lot of others. Also, sand provides a different aspect to the tank and also able to house things like wrasses and nass snails. With sand you can make the illusion of the deeper tank by piling sand in the back and making it thinner in the front. Sand also has the most surface area for biological bacteria to populate on. Overall, I think there are more pros than cons for having sand versus not having it.

The best thing I’ve found about not having sand is, maintenance is a lot easier. I just use a small powerhead and blow everything and the detritus just makes its way into the floss cup area. Whatever that settles on the cracks around the rocks, I just use a big eye dropper siphon to siphon it then right into the floss cup.

All in all, I found one good reason to have bare bottom versus plenty of other good reasons to have sand. I hope this helps!

 

[Subsea]

Bare bottomed tanks show detritus. In looking at threads you posted, you have battled algae since cycling the tank.

With this move, consider adding diver collected live rock to bring in biodiversity as competitors & consumers of nuisance algae,

 

[EliteReefing1023]

Would like to add another thing, hermits and barebottom tanks do not mix. So if you go barebottom, just ditch getting hermits. They won’t be able to move freely on the glass bottom where flow is hitting the glass and blowing right down to them. Their pointy feet’s and slick glass plus flow means they’ll never be able to graze in some area of your tank. Snails on the other hand, no issues

 

[exnisstech]

Bare bottomed tanks show detritus. In looking at threads you posted, you have battled algae since cycling the tank.

With this move, consider adding diver collected live rock to bring in biodiversity as competitors & consumers of nuisance algae,

Great suggestion. I forgot to mention every tank I posted above was started with some type of live rock. The first two were all dry rock in the DT and the sumps packed with live rock, much of it real ocean live rock 8 years in my tanks.
Live rock is game changer IME

 

[creef]

Bare bottomed tanks show detritus. In looking at threads you posted, you have battled algae since cycling the tank.

With this move, consider adding diver collected live rock to bring in biodiversity as competitors & consumers of nuisance algae,

Yes it’s been a never ending battle great advice though, thanks!

 

[Harpo]

With out the sand you will need to replace the surface area.

 

[NC AL]

Would like to add another thing, hermits and barebottom tanks do not mix. So if you go barebottom, just ditch getting hermits.

This is just simply not true. Perhaps at first, but within a week or two there will be a layer of film algae, and then coralline algae. Hermits will be fine in a bare bottom tank. I have them in all of mine.

OP, I had tanks with sand and switched over. My tanks have been cleaner and more easy to manage since. Sand gives detritus a place to settle. With bare bottom it is easier to remove it through filtration. I do a weekly 7-8% water change and vacuum up any detritus, food, etc.

 

[Science/G]

I'm a bare bottom fan. I did however start the aquarium with a piece of beige acrylic that was siliconed to the bottom for a more natural look. I have never had nasties on my bare bottom, but I do in my classroom reef that has sand. I have two mini wavemakers right on the bottom, and love the flow down low in Detritus settles in two spots and is easy to siphon out.
Its going to be a messy job for sure. I would try to scoop out as much as you can first slowly, then siphon out the rest in a big water change. You're going to lose some biological functioning, so as recommended above, a small piece of live rock will help. Plan on using a ton of mechanical filtration during the process to remove those micro particles.

 

[ou12004]

My tank is bare bottom but I have Zoa tiles completely covering the bottom

 

[Chubbycat]

My tank is bare bottom but I have Zoa tiles completely covering the bottom

very pretty zoas garden !
this is my plan for the big tank coming up, but I worry about what if the zoas will touch the big rock scape of acropora

 

[Ehder]

I have tanks that both are bare bottom and those that have sand.

Sand pros:
- looks
- wrasses
- clams
- critters
- glass insulation from rock

Sand cons:
- blows around under high flow
- gotta clean it
- anything over 3/4 of an inch up to 4 inches causes issues with the nitrogen cycle

Bare pros:
- easy to clean
- flow for days
- corals everywhere
- "stability"

Bare cons:
- coralline everywhere
- can't have wrasses
- need higher nutrient export
- very hard to start up

Overall despite the benefits of bare, i still have sand because of the simple fact, i like critters. Depends on you and your personality.

Whatever you do, if you take out the sand, do it after you get cycled rocks or other material to take on the nitrogen load (in the sump).

Good luck!

 

[ou12004]

very pretty zoas garden !
this is my plan for the big tank coming up, but I worry about what if the zoas will touch the big rock scape of acropora

I don’t have issues with zoas and acros, Paly’s can be an issue

 

[Harpo]

My tank is bare bottom but I have Zoa tiles completely covering the bottom

That is awesome

 

[johnnycamp5]

This is just simply not true. Perhaps at first, but within a week or two there will be a layer of film algae, and then coralline algae. Hermits will be fine in a bare bottom tank. I have them in all of mine.

OP, I had tanks with sand and switched over. My tanks have been cleaner and more easy to manage since. Sand gives detritus a place to settle. With bare bottom it is easier to remove it through filtration. I do a weekly 7-8% water change and vacuum up any detritus, food, etc.

IME…All of this