sandbed, stay or go?

[bv_reefer]

Starting to consider removing my entire sandbed as it's becoming a real nuisance always getting caught in my sps corals and i always have to clean them off because of it. what are some pro's and con's of this move? The reasons i put sand in, in the first place was for it's buffering capability, and for easier keeping of sand lovers like fairy wrasses and jawfish, any thoughts much appreciated..

[Pan]

Originally Posted by bv_reefer

Starting to consider removing my entire sandbed as it's becoming a real nuisance always getting caught in my sps corals and i always have to clean them off because of it. what are some pro's and con's of this move? The reasons i put sand in, in the first place was for it's buffering capability, and for easier keeping of sand lovers like fairy wrasses and jawfish, any thoughts much appreciated..

If you take it out do a little at a time...or drain the tank put everything in some bins/powerhead heaters etc, get as much water as you can into those bins, take out the sand. It also depends on how long you have had the sandbed and how deep it actually is. You can always keep a little in i keep a little less than a 1/4 inch for aesthetics..wrasses etc are okay with this. But I don't like the look of BB, i've tried and think it looks funny..to me at least.

[bv_reefer]

i'm going for a whole new look, i thinking of making a 3-level eggcrate structure, and just have sps colonies, either that or put a sheet of eggcrate on the bottom of the tank and have all the colonies dominate the bottom of the tank. problem is i'm worrying about loss of buffering capability in my tank

[Reefhawk1]

IMO Bare bottom tanks don't look that great. I keep a small amount of sugar sand in my tank for esthetic purposes only.

In your case you must have high water flow for your SPS corals. I would remove the sand if it was causing damage to my sps colonies and step up buffering with supplements.

[Aquattro]

IMO, the whole buffering thing is an advertising gimmick. Since aragonite needs pH values much lower than the tank water to actually dissolve, it isn't really doing any buffering, at least not in any appreciable amount.
And if you're going to run a SPS dominated tank, you need to supplement anyways, either with kalk, a Ca reactor or a 2 part solution.

[bv_reefer]

true i supplement with kent liquid reactor and for alkalinity i use seachem alkalinity buffer either way, so no big deal. ya i do have a reasonable amount of flow always shifting my sand around, i can't say it's damaging the corals in anyway, i would just assume that an sps dominant tank would benifit from very little to no suspended particles, and i know that frag tanks always look so pristine. my main worry was whether my alkalinity buffering would plummet because of sand removal, but since i constantly supplement regardless shouldn't be anything of a problem