Sand or No Sand

[smirkis]

This is a night shot so everything is asleep, but with the right flow it just stays clean. At least for me anyway. I’m working on covering my bottom entirely with nanorox collars. Sand vs bare is a pretty common topic and in the end it all comes down to what you like and enjoy looking at. It’s your tank

 

[tstar]

I wonder how much crap gets trapped in the rockwork on bare bottom systems vs in the sand where it can be more easily removed??

Tim

 

[Seagars]

If you have the right cuc, your sand will stay clean and help keep your system stable. Plus, sand just looks better and more natural than a bare bottom imo.

plus, as others have mentioned, removing sand from a previously established/stable system can be really bad! If you do want to go that route, definitely follow @Jose Esteves advice and remove it gradually over time.

(I vote sand!)

this is partly why i am considering. CUC is good but my wrasses continue to pick at them. they don't hide in the sad so only have because i have had it for years.

 

[khmer86]

I removed all my sand in one day. First I drained half the tank then put all live stock into the water then drained the rest and put all the rock into that then I used a shop vac and removed all the sand. My tank, all my sps and live stock was fine. Also I haven't had any Algae problems since.

@dadnjesse - Did you have any nitrate spikes or any abnormal parameter spikes? I read that doing a mass sand removal will unleash the monstrosity that may crash a tank or have serious ill effects.

 

[Lorenz725]

I have always had sand in my tanks never thought I would like the look of BB. When I set up my drop off tanks I did one with sand one without. I love both tanks but the BB is so much easier and cleaner.

 

[brandon429]

Here is a thread doing all the things that were concerning so far without loss

-instant removal beds

- full tap rinse beds

- full swaps

- more cyano fixes than you’ll find anywhere.

-upgrades, downgrades, home moves no recycles.


BRS didn’t consult the sand rinse thread or it would have worked, they could have removed sand in their 160. First link is a 120 gallon reef doing the removal.



https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/

 

[brandon429]

What I think got the BRS tank down: not adjusting light intensity down by half/ re ramping after the bed rip.

If you do that, and if you remove all sand at once with zero clouding exposed to corals, removing/cleaning/replacing a sandbed works every time we show. If someone removes a sandbed and leaves full production lighting/ 50% chance of bleaching. Marked risk, depending on the intensity acclimation before the ripping of sand. Something about going high organics to zero requires LED re acclimation.

 

[BYU]

i took mine out 3 years ago and it was the best thing i did for my tank
but i also rebooted everything at the same time

 

[hicks_plumbing]

Someone needs to make a mat for the bottom of tanks that looks like sand but is non permeable. I would go for one.
I had about 3 inches of sand in my 65g and one day just started sucking it out. I got about 80% out the first day. i let the tank settle for a few months with no ill effects on fish or corals. then i started getting cyano where the remaining sand was so i picked a weekend to take most of the rocks coral and fish out and put them in bins. i then proceeded to suck the remaining sand out and scrubbed the back glass and overflow. Finished up with 40 gallons water change. All corals and fish survived.

We used our left over cut of our countertop. Worked perfect.