Tank upgrade, Sand or Bare bottom?

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Hey guys I'm sure this is a question as old as tale.

I'm upgrading from my current 4x3x2 tank to a CADE 1500 peninsula.

I'm debating whether to go bare bottom or fine sand.


My current tank I have a small layer of coarse sand, which serves a purpose but I don't think It looks as good as fine sand.

What are the disadvantages or advantages of either ?

I do know the sandbed is important for my mandarin fish and I like the look of fine sand bed. I intend to have a lot of flow, but I don't need the wavemakers pointed to the sand I guess.


The inhabitants of my current tank are the following

Corals (mixed):
LPS (blastos, torches, hammers, elegance, acan)
SPS (acroporas, Montis, leptoseris, Digi)
Softies (large sarcophyton, Xenia, sinularia, Zoas)

Fish:
Blue Tang
Two spot bristle tooth tang
Pacific Sailfin Tang
Clownfish pair
Mandarin fish
Orange Shoulder Tang
Orchid Dottyback
Lineatus Wrasse
Swallowtail Angelfish (genicanthus)
Anampses Melanurus Wrasse (has a container with fine sand to sleep in)
Sand sifter starfish, Coral banded shrimp, hermits, heaps of strombus snails and heaps of other snails, tuxedo urchins and anemones.

 

[skey44]

I prefer caribsea special grade reef sand. It’s fine enough for sand sifting, yet coarse enough to stay in place with medium/high flow. If

 

[tzabor10]

High flow and fine sand sounds like a conflict. I had loads of problems getting sand in my powerheads

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I used Caribsea live sand. It works great in our tank!

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

High flow and fine sand sounds like a conflict. I had loads of problems getting sand in my powerheads

Did you have your power heads low?

I used Caribsea live sand. It works great in our tank!

Is this the same as the guy recommended above ? The special grade 1mm stuff ?

 

[Dragen Fiend]

caribsea special grade reef sand. By far the best. Not to fine but not large chunks either.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Is this the same as the guy recommended above ? The special grade 1mm stuff ?

Just had to go check on their website again, haha, but yes it is the special grade kind!

 

[Tonycass12]

Barebottom!

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Just had to go check on their website again, haha, but yes it is the special grade kind!

What about Carib sea Fiji pink, I heard they look good and might not be all that bad blowing around if I tweak the flow.

Barebottom!

What sort of maintenance goes with barebottom ? Do you let the coralline encrust ?

Also does it limit your copepod population?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I do like the look of Fiji pink, and I'll say that much! I don't know how bad it is with blowing around in a tank though.

 

[Coody]

Don’t do the Fiji pink fine sand, blows too much.
Only way it won’t is if you only have power heads aimed to the top of the tank.

Just replaced with my Fiji pink with special grade and I am very happy I swapped.

 

[tzabor10]

Did you have your power heads low?


Is this the same as the guy recommended above ? The special grade 1mm stuff ?

Powerheads are higher in the tank. Four MP40s. Medium to high setting. On Reef crest. Regular maintenance on powerheads is recommended.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Don’t do the Fiji pink fine sand, blows too much.
Only way it won’t is if you only have power heads aimed to the top of the tank.

Just replaced with my Fiji pink with special grade and I am very happy I swapped.

Special grade still has the nice look of sand I guess. Im leaning towards it.

What about depth of the sand ? Is it worth going deep or just having a small layer?

 

[LPS Bum]

I use sugar fine sand in my reef, but it’s a lower flow system (mostly LPS, with some clams and monti caps up top). It looks great but if you’re going to have high flow (for Acros) especially near the bottom, it’ll get blown around.

 

[Wonkabar]

Special grade still has the nice look of sand I guess. Im leaning towards it.

What about depth of the sand ? Is it worth going deep or just having a small layer?

I like 1.5-2" sand bed. I use the special grade and it works well.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm pretty convinced with the special grade one (as much as bare bottom also sounds tempting - won't be the best for some of my inhabitants).

My last question here it goes haha, what about mixing ? Like Fiji pink and special grade as an example. Like the very top layer being the larger granule.

Has anyone tried? And we're results satisfactory?

 

[Tonycass12]

I let broken frags encrust on the bottom and it's slowly getting covered in coralline. I'm a convert and have been mostly barebottom for about a year now. I dont see any drawbacks to it especially since I'm very high flow sps tank. Ive never noticed any reduction in copepods, my mandarin seems to be just as fat as he's ever been.

What about Carib sea Fiji pink, I heard they look good and might not be all that bad blowing around if I tweak the flow.



What sort of maintenance goes with barebottom ? Do you let the coralline encrust ?

Also does it limit your copepod population?

 

[BryanM]

Hey guys I'm sure this is a question as old as tale.

I'm upgrading from my current 4x3x2 tank to a CADE 1500 peninsula.

I'm debating whether to go bare bottom or fine sand.


My current tank I have a small layer of coarse sand, which serves a purpose but I don't think It looks as good as fine sand.

What are the disadvantages or advantages of either ?

I do know the sandbed is important for my mandarin fish and I like the look of fine sand bed. I intend to have a lot of flow, but I don't need the wavemakers pointed to the sand I guess.


The inhabitants of my current tank are the following

Corals (mixed):
LPS (blastos, torches, hammers, elegance, acan)
SPS (acroporas, Montis, leptoseris, Digi)
Softies (large sarcophyton, Xenia, sinularia, Zoas)

Fish:
Blue Tang
Two spot bristle tooth tang
Pacific Sailfin Tang
Clownfish pair
Mandarin fish
Orange Shoulder Tang
Orchid Dottyback
Lineatus Wrasse
Swallowtail Angelfish (genicanthus)
Anampses Melanurus Wrasse (has a container with fine sand to sleep in)
Sand sifter starfish, Coral banded shrimp, hermits, heaps of strombus snails and heaps of other snails, tuxedo urchins and anemones.

I hate sand maintenance, but I think tanks look better with sand.

 

[skey44]

I would just stick to the special grade reef sand if you want a good happy medium that can tolerate some flow (tolerates more flow as it becomes established with bacteria, microflora and fauna). Anything finer blows around (Fiji pink). Anything courser lets stuff settle and doesn’t allow sand sifting. If you mix it the coarse pieces will likely remain at top and fine will go down.

I stick to 1-2” of sand as this works for most sand critters but is also easy to turn over with a gravel vac.

 

[Coody]

Special grade still has the nice look of sand I guess. Im leaning towards it.

What about depth of the sand ? Is it worth going deep or just having a small layer?

I’ve got some sand sifters and a wrasse so about an inch worked for me.

If you aren’t going to have anything that uses the sand I would do very shallow bed and thought rinse it.