Bare bottom verus sand.

[Arif]

My first tank has Sand.
My new (~2 weeks old) tank is BB, I went with BB because I don't clean sand and for less maintenance overall.
I got a grey (non colored) PVC sheet on the bottom and for Biofiltration I threw about 20 liters of Sera Siporax (which I had lying around) into the sump.

I hope it works out well


Picture from ~2 weeks ago, as I first filled it up:

Looks nice, did you have any issues with algea on the bottom

 

[mindme]

Sand. I tried BB years ago and I just do not care for the look.

 

[jcon]

Sand. I tried BB years ago and I just do not care for the look.

Has anyone started out with BB and after awhile added sand gradually.... if they did not like BB?

 

[Pistol Peet]

Has anyone started out with BB and after awhile added sand gradually.... if they did not like BB?

I started with a bare bottom frag tank then I ended up adding sand to it it's only a 20 gallon tank there so I can't see that having much use or effect on something that would be bigger where you're going to add 40 80 pounds of sand too.

 

[Sdot]

I prefer sand and always used it. The argument of sand causing issues IMO is an overstated one. To clarify I think having too deep a sand bed is the issue, and require more "maintenance". I keep my sand beds no more than 2 inches deep. I don't even vacuum my sand, i simply stir the sand every couple of weeks...my tank look like a sand storm (I believe corals benefit from this). The following day water is clear and everything is happy! I also use different size sand as well. I run approximately 76x (22,700GPH) my tank volume per hour...in the areas where sand move around I place larger pieces there and it works great.

 

[Coronus]

I prefer sand. But run BB in all systems now. Reason is I had a system that was 10 years old and around 8 1/2 years the sand became really dirty and unsightly. I did regular water changes and cleanings throughout the tanks life but after that long a time the sand became nasty and I eventually took the tank down because of it.