Just personal preference here that I hate bare bottom tanks and could never imagine running one. I see a lot of people with discuss tanks do this. It just doesn't look or feel right to me.

I always mention to people that with a sand bed you must include something that will sift it up to prevent the build up of toxic gasses. In my 90Gallon freshwater I have a horseface loach and in my SW setup I have a sleeper goby. (considering a sand sifting star but I know how difficult they are to keep)

So really it comes down to you, both ways are fine and BB is much easier and cleaner but it all comes down to you.

I have a Sand Sifting Star in my 55G and it has been in there for over a year without any issues.... hes moving all over and looks absolutely fine. Now its not a large one... maybe 2" diameter...

Just get the right size for your tank...

With the sleeper goby, its no longer necessary, he does a good job but I will definitely be getting a star at some point in time.

Is your sleeper sifting and making the water milky (all stirred up)? Some say it's a nightmare some say it's not too bad...

Depends on your sand???? If you've got OO Lite yes....

And if it's really dirty....

No, not at all. He used to keep the surface of the sand pure white and prevented anything from growing on the sand or any debris to build up. He was a really interesting guy to watch. Unfortuantely my 2 clowns were *******s and wouldn't let him sift all areas of the tank and by the time I realized...it was too late. I had one in my 75 gallon salt and he was in there for a while. Never had issues with him at all in terms of milky water.

Now I am too scared to put anything else in the tank, so the sand is nasty and needs cleaning every once in a while.

meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhh... I've always thought of sand as an unnecessary evil. Spraypaint the bottom of your tank white. Done.

no sand and you would never get to see the awesomeness of a jawfish :biggrin:

If you think the majority of the coral that we keep in our tanks actually get anywhere near sand in their natural environment, you'd be fooling yourself :lol:

That being said, I like sand for the aesthetics. But BB is definitely a ton easier to clean...

What types of fish do you plan to keep? Many large fish, (big Tangs come to mind first) are quite smart and will use their pectoral fins near the sand to flush food out. In the process they move the sand around - some do this A LOT. Most of the FOWLR tanks that I know of personally may as well be barebottom because the fish have moved the sand about so much that half the glass is showing anyway!

If you do want sand, keeping one of the larger sand sifting fish (like Valenciennea sp gobies) really helps to keep the sand much cleaner. They can be a pain in the butt in reef tanks because they bury corals in sand, but they are a must-have in FO tanks imo. Also, choose a larger grain sand so you can vacuum it easier - nothing finer than the Caribsea Special Grade, but not so coarse that it traps food like crushed coral will.

You can go either direction and have a healthy tank. It's more about how much maintenance do you want to do and what look you prefer. Barebottom tanks, if you position your flow right and lift your rocks off the bottom you can do absolutely no vacuuming/bottom siphoning and can incorporate an easy water change system. With sand, you will be (should be) in there vacuuming it every week or two.