Your opinions regarding bare bottom vs shallow sand bed vs deep sand bed

[Bravoman]

Hi Everyone,

I would like to start some discussion regarding the advantages and disadvantages of bare bottom, shallow sand, and deep sand beds in reef aquariums.

I don't want to get into which is "BETTER", but rather what each has to offer and the possabilities unique to each type of set up.

I'm in the planning stages of my first reef aquarium. I've read and studied books, and websites and talked with friends who have tanks for the past 3 or 4 years and now I'm finally ready to take the leap. So..... basically I'd say I'm fairly educated with respect to theoretical knowledge, but don't have any real world knowledge of the subject myself. And I'd like to have some good reasons to go one way or the other.

Right now, as I see it I think I'd like either a shallow or deep sand bed because I like the asthetics and I'd like to have creatures in my tank who live and "work" in the sand.

Please add your thoughts on the subject with reasons you like one system over the other as well as limitations one might have over another. (i.e. Fine sand blowing onto coral, nutrient sinks, creature limitations, waste removal, cyanobacteria, etc, etc)

I'll leave it with you all for now.

Thanks everyone. I hope this stirs up some good conversation and debate.

Bravo

[marie]

I never did like the look of 6" of sand in the bottom of the tank and nitrates have never (yet) been a problem.
Bare bottom always looked to sterile to me and I believe life is supposed to be a little bit messy.:wink:
So going with 1-2" of sand was an easy decision. :lol:

[Beverly]

Over the past several months, we've had several discussions on the merits of the three types of systems you're asking about. Do a search on the various key words in your post and you will find these discussions.

HTH :)

[Ruth]

I have all of the above! A 230g with a DSB (about 4-5"), a 190g and 24g BB and a 44g and 12g with a SSB. Which do I like better? Hard to say - they all have their pluses and negatives. With the DSB I find that it tends to facilitate the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate a little better or faster than the BB. I love the fact that I can siphon all the crud out of my BB and it is easy to see. I like the look of the SSB but find that I have to replace the sandbed as it starts looking yucky and then nitrates start to build. I also have to watch for nitrates in the BB tanks. It is still a hard comparison because all the tanks are different with different inhabitants. My large BB is very high flow and I skim the heck out of this tank. My small BB is low flow and no skimmer (just lots of water changes). There was a couple of huge threads on Reef Central that got totally out of control and actually ended up with some of their "experts" leaving RC and going and starting or participating in other boards so it is a highly debated subject. I think you have to decide for yourself what you want to keep in your tank, how much flow you will need, and which method is going to better suit your needs. I am sure others will chime in as there are many many opinions out there.

[Marcus K]

I like fine crushed coral the best, little larger grain size over sand. Seems to have a brighter white colour and stays in place better than sand. But you have to vacuum every water change.

[AndyL]

So many different methods... All the methods have various benefits and downfalls.

Personally, I really dislike the look of barebottom. However I use all 3 methods. My frag tank is bare bottom with lots of macros, My seahorse tank has a 2" sandbed (lots of macros there too). My FOWLR has a ~1sq foot fuge with a 8" DSB in the sump.

For me basically, I believe we strive to keep a ecosystem, anything less than a full system is incomplete. So much life exists in/around the sandbeds on the reef, that I can't see leaving it out.

[ron101]

I ran a sugar sand DSB for a few years and it eventually became a nutrient factory and I had to pull it out. Initially, there was a lot of hype about it, with some claiming that with a good selection of detrivores it would make a near self-sustaining ecosystem. As time passed more and more people started having problems. Personally, I would not run one again. Also keep in mind that due to the amount of sand required it is basically the most expensive option.

IMO go either bare bottom or a thinner layer of a coarser substrate that allows you to siphon/vacuum out detritus.

[Chin_Lee]

This is my opinion from a previous post (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=23314)
regarding the same topic.

if you are contemplating on BB or substrate, go BB first. If you still don't like it after a few months, then add substrate. Otherwise its a PITA to do it the other way around.
I concur with the BB supporters - crud is inevitable and I feel that sand just hides it really well. some critters in your live sand will eat some of the crud but you will never have enough critters to sustain an aquarium environment's bio-load.
I can relate to this theory by this scenario - imagine yourself and your entire family being stuck in your house without any methods in which to remove your biological waste but a mysterious hand will continuously put food and water into your house to keep you alive. You are real happy for the most part because there's the big screen TV, computer, workout gym, various boardgames etc. However everyone dreads having to go to the bathroom but when they do, how many critters will be needed to live with you in your house to continuously eat and remove all that biological waste in your house? HOWEVER if that same mysterious hand can come in with a plastic tube and suck out all that biological waste, I think it will be somewhat ........ alright. :cry:


In addition, if all those critters (ie rats, mice, worms, beetles, grubs) were to eat ALL your biological waste, they will in turn produce biological waste as well. Kinda a crappy situation....

[Bill]

BB or very light cover of sand in the main tank for easy detritus removal, and possibly a section of the sump dedicated to dsb and algae for critters. I put some sugar size sand in a 3" deep container that fit into my sump. This way it's easy to remove if I have to.

[b_james]

I personally like the natural looks of a sand bed oppose to a BB tank.

Do you guys vacuum your sand? I dont think I have ever done that.. I just ocasionaly stir up the gravel and mechanically filter it out through the sump. Besides, my corals seem to like it:biggrin:

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Tried going bb but didn't like the look for my reef tank & the brain coral was getting damaged from rubbing against glass (flow is fairly high in the tank but directed well above the brain). Now everything & everyone is much happier with a thin layer of sand. I got a sand-sifting sea hare (I call it a sea mouse) which is dark grey-brown with tiny green spots to keep the sandbed clean.

Anthony

[Chad]

My personal opinion is if you are going to put sand in, be prepared to vaccum it. I don't think we can possibly get enough bio - diversity to break down every critters waste. So, it still builds up regardless. It just takes longer to build up with a sand bed with critters.

I have a two palm sized brain in my BB tank and have not noticed any damage to it.

[marie]

When I broke down my 75g tank, I fully expected the sandbed to be nasty it had been going for 3 1/2 yrs. To my surprise, once I got below the surface detritus (from removing the rock) the sand was white and full of worms and not very stinky, it just smelled like the ocean.

I wished now that I kept it but it was too late to put in the bowfront and I didn't think I could keep it alive long enough for someone to buy it so out it went for the racoons to play in :lol:

[Chin_Lee]

Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have!
OMG Marie thats funny.

[aquanot]

I haven't had to vacuum my tank's crushed coral 2.5" base in a year since I got a black cucumber . Ugly but effective.

[untamed]

I love that analogy, Chin_Lee! Think bigger...isn't the earth just a great big closed system?

On topic: I like the shallow sand bed. It's well inhabited by critters, but I do vacuum it in spots from time to time.

[Beverly]

At first, BB tanks look incredibly sterile and unnatural. After a few months, though, coralline algae takes hold and the bottom looks like the back of the tank. I even have anthelia growing on the bottom of my 120g, and some spoge growing under some rockwork.

I would never go back to using a sandbed. The amount of crud siphoned from our BB systems on a weekly basis would make you seriously think twice about a sandbed and how much crud actually accumulates there. Even the animals in the sandbed that eat crud, end up making crud of their own.

Here's my page on maintaining BB, sumpless, skimmerless systems. Skip all the text, if you want. All you really need to see are the pics of the changewater pails near the bottom of the page....

http://www.lostmymarblz.com/reeftips-maintainbarebottomtanks.htm

[Bartman]

It's basically the difference between hardwood and carpet. If you've seen how much crap accumulates on hardwood you'll wonder where it all goes in a carpet. But carpet feels so nice on your feet and toes......... ;) Better get out the vacuum.

[OCDP]

I would never go back to using a sandbed. The amount of crud siphoned from our BB systems on a weekly basis would make you seriously think twice about a sandbed and how much crud actually accumulates there. Even the animals in the sandbed that eat crud, end up making crud of their own.

This is why I am going BB. When I baste my sandbed, the amount of crap (literally) that comes up is disgusting. Sand looks good yes, and it's natural.. no arguments there. But BB is great for SPS keepers, and I would seriously like to start getting into the SPS craze.. therefore, BB is definitely the way to go. You can up the flow more, crud can easily be seen and siphoned out... and IMO (no experience yet) BB's look great if they're aquascaped and designed nicely.. some of the nicest tanks I've seen are BB.

Anyhow, I'm giving BB a try on my cube.... for the sake of low nutrients and keeping SPS though.