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

[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

[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...ottomtanks.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]

Originally Posted by Beverly

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.