Bare Bottom or Sand Bottom

[Heavymman]

I’m so undecided after doing a of this reading whether or not to go with a sand bed in my 60g cube build. I already have 85 lbs of figi pink dry sand. What’s everyone’s idea on this?

 

[Tank Facts]

If you are looking for easy maintenance and plan to have super flow SPS tank then go bare bottom.

I personally love the look of a sandbed and do not like the look of bare bottom tank. I'll take any pains that come with a sandbed and day.

 

[Denisk]

I would say it truly depends on what you like. I ran both barebottom and with sand. I actually only got rid of sand to deal with a Dino outbreak but than kept it out for around 6 months. Super easy to see where detritus build up is and to remove it during water changes but I think a reef looks a lot more natural with sand. Just a personal opinion of course.

I recently just adding Fiji pink to my tank and couldn’t be happier. Love the look but will of course have to keep with stirring the sand/siphoning it during water changes. But I didn’t go with a deep sandbed.

Im assuming with 85 pounds of sand in a 60 cube, you would have a deep sandbed.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I think it boils down to "what do you like"? I have never ran a bare bottom, but people say it's easy to clean the detritus and helps with the flow, I'm sure there are other reasons. I like the sand, I feel it has a more natural look and our goby and pistol shrimp love it. There are probably reasons and arguments or both. What are your plans for the tank and what do you plan to stock? Your long term plan will help you answer the question.

 

[Heavymman]

If you are looking for easy maintenance and plan to have super flow SPS tank then go bare bottom.

I personally love the look of a sandbed and do not like the look of bare bottom tank. I'll take any pains that come with a sandbed and day.

Thanks... lol this does complicate my decision though. I plan to have an SPS dominant, I do not want to maintain the sand though. And I also like the sand bed look

 

[Heavymman]

I would say it truly depends on what you like. I ran both barebottom and with sand. I actually only got rid of sand to deal with a Dino outbreak but than kept it out for around 6 months. Super easy to see where detritus build up is and to remove it during water changes but I think a reef looks a lot more natural with sand. Just a personal opinion of course.

I recently just adding Fiji pink to my tank and couldn’t be happier. Love the look but will of course have to keep with stirring the sand/siphoning it during water changes. But I didn’t go with a deep sandbed.

Im assuming with 85 pounds of sand in a 60 cube, you would have a deep sandbed.

If I go sand bed, I will prob have a 2-3 inch max bed. The rest I will use in a Refugium down the road

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I think it boils down to "what do you like"? I have never ran a bare bottom, but people say it's easy to clean the detritus and helps with the flow, I'm sure there are other reasons. I like the sand, I feel it has a more natural look and our goby and pistol shrimp love it. There are probably reasons and arguments or both. What are your plans for the tank and what do you plan to stock? Your long term plan will help you answer the question.

I'm also using Fiji pink and really like it.

 

[Heavymman]

I think it boils down to "what do you like"? I have never ran a bare bottom, but people say it's easy to clean the detritus and helps with the flow, I'm sure there are other reasons. I like the sand, I feel it has a more natural look and our goby and pistol shrimp love it. There are probably reasons and arguments or both. What are your plans for the tank and what do you plan to stock? Your long term plan will help you answer the question.

I did want to do SPS dominant and keep a nice stock of fish.... my long term plans would be to transition into a 250 gallon build in my basement eventually but again I don’t want to be fighting Dino/cyano breakouts...

 

[KrisReef]

The wrasses like to hide in the sand, so if you know you want a wrasse then you probably want sand.
I run a bare bottom tank, and some of my frag plugs are spreading across the bottom which i think looks better than sand.
The calcareous algae also is going wild on the bottom, so eventually, it will look like a giant flat rock with encrusting stuff.