The advantages and disadvantages of a bare bottom tank. Would you go BB?

[Ninic Luka]

i had 40g anemone tank with no sand and it was awful plan was and still is to cover bottom with gsp. on that same sumo are connected 40g sps tank and 3 year old 65g mixed reef so its stable. but there is so much detritus on the bottom i need to vacuum it atleast once a week

 

[Paul B]

There are generally two ways to maintain a reef tank as far as the substrates are concerned. You can either use some type of sand or you can use no sand and go bare bottom.

This is not exactly true. I use a rather course gravel. Dolomite which used to be the only salt water gravel or substrait available. Now it is hard to find but you may be able to get it at a mausoleum or museum supply.

Gravel, by itself or used with a reverse undergravel filter raises the life level exponentially and life, especially bacteria runs our tanks. Not our Mother N Laws.

 

[Operation Philo Beddoe]

I only run bare bottom. Biggest tanks now are a Red Sea170 and. ZeroEdge ZR-22.
Easy street, but I’m in no hurry to get there. And when I get there,, won’t be a nasty-butt sand bed to deal with.
I dose Phyto, so my white rocks turn green. I have not had an algae issue in 2-3 years. I have a 8’ Planet tank coming any day now. Same deal for it. Phyto coats my rocks a beautiful green color, the coralline and corals stand out on it. Zero other types of algae in tank except small tuft of GH on return nozzle. I feed the heck out of the Gold Flake angel and her 4 shrimp. Hardly ever have to clean my glass. Kalk/Chaeto/marine pure/ tons of Stax

 

[Ardeus]

I could have a tank without rock, corals and or fish.

Without sand? Never.

My dream tank is a large shallow cube with sand, a red haddoni and a group of clowns... sunlit, no skimmer, no sump.

 

[TRAVIS PATSCHURECK]

I have always been against BB... Mainly just for looks and my love for wrasses. But I have seen some done really nice, I think if you use a white starboard as the base it still gives it the sand looks and also I would have my bottom filled with chalice, montis, zoas...

I have seen some amazing BB tanks with coral all over the bottom like that and it was amazing...

My big thing for considering trying BB is I have noticed that most people who have BB tanks never have ich issues. I have always had ich issues an di have gone fallow so many time and tried qting and it always pops back up somehow and it's so defeating to be honest...


Being that the sand is the main area that ich reproduces, I could see it helping prevent ich if you were sandless...

Any thoughts on that?

 

[Appoloreefer]

I have a 125 gallon BB and I love it. My plan is to put Zoas and mushrooms on the bottom, have GSP on the back wall and then have other soft corals on my rock work. I have no issues with algae and it is so easy to keep clean.

 

[LittleFidel]

That brings into more question as a new reefer, if you have plenty of rock and means of handling bioload why are there people who shun vacuuming my sand bed when there are plenty of successful bare bottom tanks out there.

The people who suggest not vacuuming the sand bed are the same people who say RODI is mandatory and that you must wait 5 years for your tank to cycle before adding a single turbo snail; the ones who don’t know what they’re talking about….

 

[LittleFidel]

My main tank is sand as is my traveling tank. I like the look of the lagoon style with islands and such, so sand is sort of necessary. Plus I love the sand creatures too much to go without.
Now my grow-out/qt tanks are bare bottom for ease of cleaning.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. Depends on maintenance and corals/animals you keep. I personally prefer sand.

Please clarify:
Does the tank itself travel or is it set up in a way that lets it thrive while you are traveling?
I run both my tanks bare bottom in order to minimize maintenance while I travel. Removing a variable (in this case, unknown amounts of detritus buildup in the substrate) provides more stability.

 

[LittleFidel]

As to the "it doesn't look natural" complaint...

A large expanse of sand isn't natural in the middle of a reef crest. It just isn't.

stony coral reef - Google Search

Wall to wall coral on a rock base is actually the natural state there.

And correct me if I’m wrong, but the detritus from these areas high-growth is moved to sandier areas on the edges of reefs by water flow, where macroalgae grows due to nutrient buildup. A bare bottom tank emulates reef crests well while a sand-bottom emulates lagoons well.

 

[LittleFidel]

Challenge accepted. Lol

I think the "natural look" idea in itself is not practical. I like to think of a reef tank like a Japanese garden and corals as bonsai. Definitely looks man made but still "natural" in its own right. I see it as a balance between artistic expression, nature and a healthy, balanced habitat. If you were to take a random chunk of reef the size of a reef tank and throw it in a reef tank, it would actually be pretty lame and not have much in terms of biodiversity. It would likely just be just a huge mass of one type of coral. That being said, I don't think plate corals do well without a sand bed. It just depends on what you are keeping.

I removed my sandbed for the same reason that people remove dandelions from the garden and rake the leaves away. I am highlighting the best aspects of nature in a simplified way.

 

[LittleFidel]

My corals and fish are my pets. I must keep their habitat clean for them in order to keep them happy and healthy, growing strong and avoiding disease. The best way to do this is to frequently remove their waste and polluted water. This task is made exponentially easier without a substrate.

I liken it to the cats litter box. It would be cruel and unusual to require him to use a litter box that was never cleaned. And his health would be increased if he was able to use the toilet and flush all his waste down the drain.

Even litter that is cleaned daily must eventually be replaced with new, clean litter in order to avoid disease. This is the same concept @brandon429 is getting across by suggesting that even well-maintained sandbeds should be replaced periodically for the health and long term viability of the tank.

 

[TRAVIS PATSCHURECK]

I have always been against BB... Mainly just for looks and my love for wrasses. But I have seen some done really nice, I think if you use a white starboard as the base it still gives it the sand looks and also I would have my bottom filled with chalice, montis, zoas...

I have seen some amazing BB tanks with coral all over the bottom like that and it was amazing...

My big thing for considering trying BB is I have noticed that most people who have BB tanks never have ich issues. I have always had ich issues an di have gone fallow so many time and tried qting and it always pops back up somehow and it's so defeating to be honest...


Being that the sand is the main area that ich reproduces, I could see it helping prevent ich if you were sandless...

Any thoughts on that?

Still wanting thoughts

 

[ClownWrangler]

Still wanting thoughts

The reason many quarantines fail is because ich is reintroduced either through cross contamination or being laxed about quarantining other things like snails, inverts, macro algae ect. Ich reproduces on hard surfaces, IE live rock. Sure, a rubble substrate provides more surface area for ich, but eliminating substrate will not fix the issue. We are beating a dead horse here though. The fact of the matter is, with a large tank you will likely be managing ich, but with a small tank, management is not an option. This is the reason there are so many debates on this forum that never come to an end, people fail to consider differences like this. My QT failed once because I threw in a feather duster worm from Petco and lost several hundred dollars of fish to velvet in one go. Ever since, and after the fallow period I have been neurotic about QT, even with macro algae and have not had an issue.

I think snails are the biggest culprit though. People go through the trouble of QT for everything with a new tank, they get an algae surge as part of the natural cycling and throw in snails without QT. I quick rinse wont do it, ich can hang out on a snail shell for up to 72 days. A ticking time bomb. The same goes for frags.

 

[LittleFidel]

I have always been against BB... Mainly just for looks and my love for wrasses. But I have seen some done really nice, I think if you use a white starboard as the base it still gives it the sand looks and also I would have my bottom filled with chalice, montis, zoas...

I have seen some amazing BB tanks with coral all over the bottom like that and it was amazing...

My big thing for considering trying BB is I have noticed that most people who have BB tanks never have ich issues. I have always had ich issues an di have gone fallow so many time and tried qting and it always pops back up somehow and it's so defeating to be honest...


Being that the sand is the main area that ich reproduces, I could see it helping prevent ich if you were sandless...

Any thoughts on that?

Honestly if you’re taking care of the pet’s environment they won’t be at risk for disease. Bare bottom tank allows you to remove detritus and minimize the opportunities for viruses, parasites, etc to multiply.

 

[jmichaelh7]

My new 150 gallon is bare bottom. I’m contemplating on getting 200 lb of sand. When I was in my 90 gallon Red Sea i tried my best to remove the sand because it limited my flow for SPS. Lol now I got what I wanted and wondering about benefits of sand beds.

Those using excuses that they have Wrasses and gobies ... so do I. Animals learn to adapt and sleep under rocks. My leopard and Christmas is doing fine.

Im going to add another 3000gph wavemaker at the bottom to suspend detritus. My goal is to have a reef tank dominated with SPS

 

[Waynerock]

Had sand for ages and still do in my son’s 20 gal but never again in my tanks. It’s my OCD I can never keep sand clean and it drives my nuts. My sons tank does not bother me as much cause it’s in his room away from me. Plus I like to have the Monties, chyastra, and lepto’s grow over the bottom glass.

 

[Shooter6]

8 months wet, 5 months with coral and loving the bb. 400g display 700g total water for now until the other 320g display is filled.

 

[Bugeater281]

I run two tanks bb. My new 135g never has build up on the bottom. Then again I’m running a reeflo hammer head closed loop. All the stuff in my tank ends up in two nicely organized piles. Food doesn’t even come close to touching the bottom. Granted I need to modify the closed loop a bit. There’s so much flow in the front that corals can’t be put on the bottom. It will blow the frag plugs around the tank. But the good news I don’t have a single powerhead or piece of equipment in the tank. Which in nice.

biggist issue I’ve had on both my bb’s. I was battling high nitrates. My phosphates kept bottoming out. So I took the advice here. I started feeding more. Nitrates shot up. I now dose phosphates. And nitrates are coming down. One tank is 1.5years old. 135 is 6-8 months old.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

BB 120 black abs, about to put several species of lypto on the bottom.

I love a sand tank though allot! its a little piece of ocean that way, but a bare bottom tank is like a custom gaming pc compared to a dell from best buy, yes they are both computers. But I'd rather run two liquid cooled graphics cards in crossfire if you know what I'm saying.

I like sand, I vote bare bottom

 

[blaxsun]

I like my wrasses, nassarius snails, conches and sea cucumbers too much...