Sand bed indecision...

[asylumdown]

Deep sand bed. No wait, bare bottom. No, no wait, shallow sand bed. Hmmm, maybe still a deep sand bed? Argh. Why is there no right answer?

I'm trying to decide how much sand to put in the tank that's in my sig line. I want to do it right, and I have no ability to make a remote DSB with this set up.

Instead of writing an annotated bibliography that's due Monday, I've spent hours and hours reading about sand beds, pros and cons, people's opinions (which are usually presented as holy fact), and in a few cases horror stories. Here's what I've aggregated:

1. The people who've had horror 'my sand bed killed my tank' stories all seem to have had really very deep sand beds, like 8 inches plus.

2. Some people swear by them

3. Some people swear by not having them

4. Some people are really mean when other people have an opinion that is different than theirs.

At first I was just going to put a 1.5-2 inch layer of sand in my display tank then never think about sand again. Then I read that 1-3 inches is the worst idea possible because you're half way between a deep and shallow bed with neither full benefits but full drawbacks of both. Then I read that 2 inch sand beds are just fine. Then I read that putting a DSB in a your DT is just asking for trouble. Then I read that people who've put DSB in their DT have never, ever had problems with nitrate.... Le Sigh.

Here's what I was thinking of doing:

in the display tank, putting a 3 inch layer of sugar grained sand in, then putting another inch of fiji pink on top of it. It's not the deepest bed out there, but might still fill that role without (hopefully) most of the badness?

What do you guys think?

[globaldesigns]

Personally, I ran a DSB in my refuge, and in my opinion it became more of a nitrate factory than anything else. You should of seen it when I removed it, it was nasty.

In my DT, I have about 1.5-2 inches of nice fine sand... Over the years there are now some shells, from snails and little clams that die or get eating, but I like the fine araganite. Personally I don't like bare bottom, as most I see have algae on the bottom, and I just don't think they look natural. However BB has its benefits... Mainly they won't be adding anything bad like phosphate or nitrates to the system.

Recently (6 months or so ago) I started vacumming my sand everyweek. Really you shouldn't as live sand is beneficial. But in my case with the SPS issues I have been having, it was another thing to try. I can say, even with the vacummning, the worms, etc. are still in abundance in the sand, and my tank overall is doing really well. SPS is coloring up nicely and actually starting to grow. This is good.

I hope the above helps, I guess BB or sand bed is a preference. If you go with sand bottom, don't do DSB, based on my experience.

[lastlight]

if you have wrasses and sand-sifters I think it'll all get mixed up anyways, blown around and probably not deep enough to do what a dsb does.

Other than actual sand-fines I can stir my sand up and it's clean. So long as you have decent flow and a hard-working sifter I'd go shallow and pass on the sugar grains...

just my opinion tho... i don't actually know anything =)

[bignose]

If your going to have lots of flow in your tank don't go sugar sand. It's pain in the arse trying to get the flow just right.

[jostafew]

Deja-vu hahaha, a very similar question was just posted a couple days ago. Here's an abbreviated version of my previous reply; it depends....

What livestock do you intend to keep? LPS and softies, SPS, sand-sifting animals.... Fish and flow willd determine the requirements of the sand-bend. For eg. I have a canary wrasse which requires atleast 2" of fine sand to burrow into each night. I have sugar sand in my tank which does get blown around, but I accept that limitation and know that my tank will probably never be a killer SPS tank because I have to limit the flow to prevent a sand-storm.

As for the DSB problems, that shouldn't apply to a healthy DSB with the appropriate livestock slowly turning over the sand bed. Pods, worms, snails, and fishes turning over the upper surface should prevent any buildup of toxic gases. Nitrate buildup? Only time I heard of that was with people using crushed coral or very course gravel which collects detritus and allows nitrates to buildup. In order to get the benefits of a true DSB (oxygen deprived zone) you need fairly fine sand.

So think about the livestock you want to keep, if fine sand doesn't jive in the DT, run a DSB in the refugium or an external DSB. If anything I'd say fuge / external is the safest place because it can be easily serviced if needed, then just put whatever suits your livestock and your taste (visually) in the DT.

I'm relatively green at reefing, had a tank for just about 2 years, but I like you have done tons of reading on the matter. Good luck!

[Aquattro]

I went with about 1.5" of sugar sand in my SPS tank. I've since replaced it with a little heavier grade. It still moves around to the point that the front 4" of my tank is bare bottom. I have wrasses that like the sand, so I keep it, and I also put egg crate down below the sand because I'm dumb sometimes. If it weren't for the egg crate, I'd remove it all and add a big container of sand behind the rock for the wrasses to sleep in. I do like the look of sand, and it stays clean, but I currently have a mix of shallow, deep, bare and egg crate bottom. Le sigh....

[ponokareefer]

Here's what made my final decision: there were critters I wanted to keep that needed a deep sand bed, so I went with one.

If there isn't anything that requires sand, try bare bottom for its benefits and see if you like the look. If you don't end up liking it, put some sand in at that point.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I do like the look of sand, and it stays clean, but I currently have a mix of shallow, deep, bare and egg crate bottom. Le sigh....

Is this your idea of the "Best" of all worlds or what?

[asylumdown]

Thanks everyone. I suppose this debate will never be truly "settled". I'll keep weighing the options and we'll see what happens. there is a very small fuge section in my sump (not big enough to have any impact on nutrient levels), so I might try one out in there and see what happens. If anything, I can always add more sand later...

[dc4]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Thanks everyone. I suppose this debate will never be truly "settled". I'll keep weighing the options and we'll see what happens. there is a very small fuge section in my sump (not big enough to have any impact on nutrient levels), so I might try one out in there and see what happens. If anything, I can always add more sand later...

I see it less of a debate and more of personal preference, I had a 3" sand bed in my 29g and when I moved to a 72g, I only have about an inch of sand for my pistol and and a few gobies to call home. It all depends on what you like and what you want to planning to add to the tank.