SAND BED vs BARE BOTTOM: Is it sand or nothing for you!?
AKL1950
2500 Club Member
I see a lot of posts that say they like the natural look of sand in their tank. I’ve done a lot of diving around the world and most of the most beautiful reefs I’ve seen are 15‘ to 40’ or more above the sandy bottom. My favorite Barrier reefs and mound reefs are all well above the sandy bottom.
I’m bare bottom now and really like the ease of cleaning. I actually power blow or turkey baster blow the tank every day. Keeps stuff suspended and easy for the filtration to remove it. Tank re-clears in 20 minutes. Couldn’t do that with a sand bottom.
I’m bare bottom now and really like the ease of cleaning. I actually power blow or turkey baster blow the tank every day. Keeps stuff suspended and easy for the filtration to remove it. Tank re-clears in 20 minutes. Couldn’t do that with a sand bottom.
c_ronius
Community Member
I like a thin layer of crushed coral that can take the flow, which then gets all covered in coralline. I like that it traps detritus and find vacuuming it out easy. I think the sand bed does a better job of pumpin out mandarin food vs the rocks.
I do like the look of an extremely clean bare bottom tank, with the bare bottom actually showing, and only points of rock touching it. But usually bottoms are covered with corals or algae so the tank looks like one big rock, which I personally don't like the look of.
I do like the look of an extremely clean bare bottom tank, with the bare bottom actually showing, and only points of rock touching it. But usually bottoms are covered with corals or algae so the tank looks like one big rock, which I personally don't like the look of.
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
Bare bottom for me.......easier to keep the tank clean. I have two MP40s that sit right on the ground and push water up against the front glass into the overflow. Couldn't do that with sand. That being said, I do like the look of (clean) sand better...but I will give it up for a healthier tank.
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c_ronius
Community Member
Absolutely Gorgeous.Bare bottom for me.......easier to keep the tank clean. I have two MP40s that sit right on the ground and push water up against the front glass into the overflow. Couldn't do that with sand. That being said, I do like the look of sand better...but I will give up that pro for a healtier tank.
jsker
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I will be going with a corse sand bottom, in my new system. Maybe crushed coral. I will be open to suggestions. I will have a lot of flow.
jsker
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I really would like to use, silver sand or gold sand.
I like wrasses too much not to have sand, but it's definitely a challenge.
srobertb
Well-Known Member
Tank blew a leak. Quickly threw everything into an off the shelf 125. No sand bed. Just the old LR.
2 weeks to rebalance itself then was fine. I had an algae bloom for a few days in there.
So after 4 months I can now say I went “bare bottom.” Giggity.
I do not think sand beds are as integral to filtration as once thought nor do I think removing one is that detrimental but aesthetically it’s so much better in my opinion.
I know my creatures prefer the sand bed (some need it to live). I couldn’t imagine not having one but my hobby is “a slice of a reef in my home” not growing SPS.
2 weeks to rebalance itself then was fine. I had an algae bloom for a few days in there.
So after 4 months I can now say I went “bare bottom.” Giggity.
I do not think sand beds are as integral to filtration as once thought nor do I think removing one is that detrimental but aesthetically it’s so much better in my opinion.
I know my creatures prefer the sand bed (some need it to live). I couldn’t imagine not having one but my hobby is “a slice of a reef in my home” not growing SPS.
formallydehyde
Active Member
Sand bed because I like Creatures as well as Beasts and many of them need sand.
EugeneVan
Active Member
Bare bottom for me. Easy to maintenance and I can turn up the water flow without worry about any sand storm. My SPS love it. At night I can turn on my red flash light to see the dark side of the moon 
. All the little creatures like isopods, copepods, amphipods........walking, swimming at the bottom of the tank.
. All the little creatures like isopods, copepods, amphipods........walking, swimming at the bottom of the tank.
zoomonster
Valuable Member
Absolutely sand but yes not w/o its issues like keeping it clean. I currently have ~4" bed so not dsb anymore. I started with Caribsea Seaflor mixed with some AragAlive sand. Even when I was high flow no issues with blowing sand. Got to have it for all the critters that populate it, bedroom for my wrasses, natural look and sometimes I'll just stick a frag plug into the sand. Never really liked that look in some tanks where they have starboard with everything encrusting all over it.
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JasonVH
Active Member
Couldn't vote- newbie approaching a year in the hobby. I'm very confused.
29 gal with two HOB- Seachem Tidal 75 and 35. No sump. Decided to give salt water a try after being told it was possible with this set up. LFS suggested live rock and bagged live sand. It cycled Very Fast- first coral after a week, first fish a week or two after. Seemed to go well for the first months. Phosphate has been creeping up-currently hovering at 1.
Went to another LFS a couple months ago and described my tank to the owner. I quote him: "you're screwed" upon mention of the sand. He claimed that eventually the tank would be nuked directly due to the presence of sand. This same person also has a sparse thin layer of sand, so sparse there were bare spots in the shop saltwater tanks. He also takes all of the sand out regularly to wash and put back in the tanks. Can't remember how regularly- maybe at least once a month? That was... a shock to me.
So now I've been paying attention to BB topics here. However it seems most of them relate to tanks with complete setups- sumps and everything. My tank is far simpler than that. Do I apply those comments to my setup or no..? Would taking out the sand not provide enough biological medium without the presence of a sump containing more surface area for beneficial bacteria?
My main objective is hoping the LPS corals would thrive and grow. There's only a pair of banggai- no interest in getting other fish. Bunch of hermit crabs.
One thing that caught my attention about BB- the claim that more frequent feeding was possible. The corals obviously thrive with spot feedings. Reduced that to once or twice a month because I don't know how to stop the phosphate from continuing to rise- recently added a small bag of chemiclean in the HOB.. have yet to test the effects. I'd like to feed the corals more regularly, if there's a way to do that and not mess with the parameters.
My real question- is BB an overall positive or negative with simple and small set ups? 29 gal with only HOB filters in my case?
29 gal with two HOB- Seachem Tidal 75 and 35. No sump. Decided to give salt water a try after being told it was possible with this set up. LFS suggested live rock and bagged live sand. It cycled Very Fast- first coral after a week, first fish a week or two after. Seemed to go well for the first months. Phosphate has been creeping up-currently hovering at 1.
Went to another LFS a couple months ago and described my tank to the owner. I quote him: "you're screwed" upon mention of the sand. He claimed that eventually the tank would be nuked directly due to the presence of sand. This same person also has a sparse thin layer of sand, so sparse there were bare spots in the shop saltwater tanks. He also takes all of the sand out regularly to wash and put back in the tanks. Can't remember how regularly- maybe at least once a month? That was... a shock to me.
So now I've been paying attention to BB topics here. However it seems most of them relate to tanks with complete setups- sumps and everything. My tank is far simpler than that. Do I apply those comments to my setup or no..? Would taking out the sand not provide enough biological medium without the presence of a sump containing more surface area for beneficial bacteria?
My main objective is hoping the LPS corals would thrive and grow. There's only a pair of banggai- no interest in getting other fish. Bunch of hermit crabs.
One thing that caught my attention about BB- the claim that more frequent feeding was possible. The corals obviously thrive with spot feedings. Reduced that to once or twice a month because I don't know how to stop the phosphate from continuing to rise- recently added a small bag of chemiclean in the HOB.. have yet to test the effects. I'd like to feed the corals more regularly, if there's a way to do that and not mess with the parameters.
My real question- is BB an overall positive or negative with simple and small set ups? 29 gal with only HOB filters in my case?
Definitely a sand bed. Not only does it look better than the algae on bare bottom systems there's important biology helping maintain alkalinity.
Sorry to hear your frustrations!
If it helps you can have nice tank with very simple setups. This system has no external or internal filtration equipment, just a couple power heads and air pumps.
And this system has had a sand bed since it's inception 26 years ago (maybe the guy was right, it just hasn't been long enough yet
)
Large Build - Skimmerless since 1997
Better late than never, right! :D Here's a current video of a system I set up in 1997. Initially it was in a 110 gallon, moved to a 200 in 2000, moved to a new location in 2007 and moved to a 240 gallon in 2009. Animals that are from the first year it was set up include a green brittle star...
www.reef2reef.com
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