[Delphinus]

I just go with just enough sand to cover the glass and I figure I can always siphon it out and replace it down the road if it starts to be a problem. It does shift around a bit in the current, so I have to relevel it every few months or so. I have a diamond goby who is constantly sifting the sand keeping it clean (best idea ever, I have one large guy in my 280g, he's a total workhorse.) There are a few other sand sifting gobies but be wary that some might scoop and then swim up before spitting the sand out, which will drive you crazy if you don't like sand on your rocks and corals. Diamond gobies OTOH just spit it out at the bottom, so you don't get the clouds of sand with that particular species.

I've done BB and I thought it would grow on me, but it never did. The thing you have to consider with BB is that it's really done out of convenience for cleaning up crud accumulation, and you would be surprised just how much crud can come out of nowhere. The live rock itself is pooping dirty sand. For this reason, a tank bottom covered in flat rock isn't the same thing as BB because you'd still have to vaccuum out in all the crevasses and underneath and stuff.