The great bare bottom debate

[vlangel]

I have always been fond of DSBs, mostly because if they are set up and treated right they are almost maintenance free. I have taken 2 DSBs apart, the first being 5 years old and the 2nd being 3 years old. Neither tank ever had algae issues of any significance, and both tanks smelled like fresh salt water when taken apart. They also had a quarter inch of sand at the very bottom that was a slightly darker color which is where I believe the anaearobic activity was. All I ever did for maintenance was dance my fingers through the top half inch of sand and never disturbed the remaining 4 and a half inches.

I do know that you can overfeed a DSB however. A friend of mine did that in her fowlr pedator tank. She still has the original sandbed and its about 13 years old but it so gunked up that it is not functioning as a denitrification tool. However it has never caused a problem with her tank either. Its not a reef tank with long photoperiods of light or coral. As a result she does not get algae because the lights are limited and not that bright and its ok if her nitrates are not under 5 or 10 because she does not have inverts.

 

[KJoFan]

All my previous and current tanks have had sand. I'm in the process of setting up a new tank and fully plan to go BB. Mostly for all the reasons already stated, namely ease of maintenance. I've found I'm not very good/diligent about cleaning/siphoning my sandbed and it ends up just trapping detritus. (Ever move a rock and see all the crap that floats up from it? wowee.) So, in the name of my laziness I'm going BB this time. Sure, I'll have to siphon the detritus piles, but that seems far easier/faster than siphoning an entire sandbed.

The one holdup for me is wanting leopard wrasses, but...I might be ok with a container of sand somewhere if needed. Jury is still out on that one.

As for biological contribution...I will see how it goes nutrient level wise, and I don't see why you couldn't just add some Marinepure block to the sump to add some additional biofiltration.

Either way, good luck with your decision!

 

[brandon429]

this below is beating a sandbed into submission. after the beat down 11 yrs of coral and purple rock are jenga'd back on top of pristine white sand per my avatar pic.

I even burned it all with peroxide after this rinse in tap water lol, if it misbehaves again ill give it the hose again, but this level rinse gets me months and months of no nitrate production

Agreed larger tanks and dilution make such a rinsing not a bi annual event if ever, but just in case there are any dirty beds that need a rip clean we are able to accomplish it at one gallon with literally no dilution and skip the cycle setup everytime~



the grains still hold bacteria after the rinse assault says the times I spent trying to wipe generalized aerobes off cold steel apparently-clean surfaces using cleaners that would burn a lung. (USDA-chased/verified environmental surface microbiology lab in a meat packing house)

I know Hart works the bacteria too that's why I like his posts. I only wish 3% peroxide was a decent sterilizer on stratified surfaces, it's horrible but it'll cut organics nicely off sand.

 

[Jesus]

I think we're all in this hobby to try to replicate as close as possible the natural habitat of our pets or animals or critters or whatever you want to call all those creatures that we all spend a lot of our hard earned dollars to keep alive and watch grow. So what do we see in the bottom of the ocean? Glass or sand? If it's about keeping it clean we all know it requires some money and a lot of time and elbow grease so it all boils on how natural you want your tank to look

 

[hart24601]

I think we're all in this hobby to try to replicate as close as possible the natural habitat of our pets or animals or critters or whatever you want to call all those creatures that we all spend a lot of our hard earned dollars to keep alive and watch grow. So what do we see in the bottom of the ocean? Glass or sand? If it's about keeping it clean we all know it requires some money and a lot of time and elbow grease so it all boils on how natural you want your tank to look

Depends what part of the ocean. Most of the reef crests are not sand. Sure there are some, but those keeping SPS tanks with large acro colonies are really looking for packed reef crest/fore reef look. Those are rock bottoms. So if wanting to replicate that part of the ocean then no, it wouldn't be sand.

But if you like it keep it!

 

[brandon429]

algae growth as well

what we want is abnormal

I saw reefs in person at 100 feet that could feed tangs turtles and parrots in the most pristine water and those animals had to pick at the base of giant table top acro colonies to rasp out the algae. they then often pooped sand.

algae grew where a non excluding anchor point allowed, not because of dissolved nutrient issues. add to that any possible nutrient issues from places that store up organic waste in an aquarium, and the algae have something in their favor even better

since we want abnormal algae balances in our tanks, ie mostly none, we do abnormal things to the substrates if we want a consistent behavior across a few hundred tanks. there's always the outliers who make the majority look cra

 

[luke33]

I have been running reef tank's since '06 and mainly sps tanks. I have had 4 different tank's in that time frame and the only one's I ever had issue's with were tanks with sand. One ran for 2-3yrs perfectly then started leaching phos extremely bad and nearly crashed my tank. IMO if you have a deep sand bed your just waiting for it to bomb your tank as it will eventually happen. I like BB like most of the other explanations. You can keep your flow higher and keep detritus buildup to a minimum. But its all preference in this hobby so do what you want : )

 

[Ashish Patel]

IMO There's no excuse for not having at least .3" of substrates. I'm against anything over .5" and I'm not a fan on coraline algae on glass look. DSB are risky. If u like to run high flow get some large rubble or flat pieces of rock. But have something there otherwise the non reefer will constantly ask u the same dang questions - UR TANK LOOKS LIKE CRAP WITHOUT SAND. My 2 cents

 

[Ashish Patel]

Also it depends on style of tank. For minamalsitic aquascape with open space bb would look horrible. For packed tanks (avoid) bb works more bc inability to clean around the rock work.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Also it depends on style of tank. For minamalsitic aquascape with open space bb would look horrible. For packed tanks (avoid) bb works more bc inability to clean around the rock work.

 

[hart24601]

I never had a single person reefer or not say my tank was missing something or looked like crap because it didn't have sand. Actually every single non reefing person that saw the tank just said some thing "woooowwww"

This is open Rockwork, actually ceramic fake rock.

 

[happyhourhero]

Never had anyone ask where my sand was either.

 

[Murica]

My sand is consistently 2 to 3 inches, would you consider that "deep"? Or would that be in the safe zone given regular maintenance from time to time

 

[vlangel]

I prefer sand but sometimes concessions are made in the best interests of the animals, in my case the ponies.
I say variety is the spice of life!

 

[vlangel]

My sand is consistently 2 to 3 inches, would you consider that "deep"? Or would that be in the safe zone given regular maintenance from time to time

I usually say less than one and a half or more than four inches.

 

[Murica]

I usually say less than one and a half or more than four inches.

So basically I'm screwed haha

 

[Murica]

Anyone have any secret ways to easily take out sand without taking out all my rock if I decide to go that route? I appreciate all the info and opinions. Also will my yellow watchman be ok without sand? Still undecided but the bare bottom supporters have my attention.

 

[zchauvin]

Anyone have any secret ways to easily take out sand without taking out all my rock if I decide to go that route? I appreciate all the info and opinions. Also will my yellow watchman be ok without sand? Still undecided but the bare bottom supporters have my attention.

Siphon out with hose during water changes.

 

[Murica]

Siphon out with hose during water changes.

Reading it back it sounded like a dumb question to ask but a large area of sand is under my rock, I think I'm just gonna take your advice and do a little at a time and eventually get there

 

[zchauvin]

Reading it back it sounded like a dumb question to ask but a large area of sand is under my rock, I think I'm just gonna take your advice and do a little at a time and eventually get there

Yeah, I mean you could just remove the rock and siphon everything out followed by good sized water change. If you are patient doing it you shouldn't get too large of a dust storm. Or just do it little by little.