Barebottom to Sand

[ReeferRob]

So I am doing a 55 to a 120 upgrade and can't exactly afford a sand bet right now.
Do you see any issues with adding the sand later on after most of the rock and corals and fish have been added? Other than murky water?
Thanks CZ

 

[Dace]

i do see issue with adding sand after you have live stock in there. i vote against it. it may also cause your tank to cycle. either wait to you can buy the sand to upgrade,or just keep it barebottom.

 

[fishes2889]

I have to disagree with dace on this one. At my store we have a 200g coral tank that we had BB for many years. Recently we just added a 2 inch SB with no "cycle" and no spikes to occur. All the coral is fine and dandy.

 

[Dace]

I have to disagree with dace on this one. At my store we have a 200g coral tank that we had BB for many years. Recently we just added a 2 inch SB with no "cycle" and no spikes to occur. All the coral is fine and dandy.

did you have any fish in your tank when you added your sand also was this bagged sand

 

[fishes2889]

Yes, a yellow tang and a small mandarin.

 

[Paintguru]

There is no reason a cycle should happen. The only issue I foresee is a big mess when putting it into the tank.

 

[Reef Goddess]

If its gravel size sand it probably wouldn't be too hard, but fine sand is going to create a huge mess. Depending on what corals you have, a lot of them will probably slime up a lot so I would be very cautious about dong it. Why do want to add a sandbed anyway?