BareBottom vs. sand?

ScottyMcReefer · Nov 9, 2012

Came to conclude that I will be going with the 5gallon ecopico. Now the decision is on the table......bare bottom or sand? What are some benefits and such considering I am not familiar AT ALL with bare bottom aquariums.

Kworker · Nov 9, 2012

look up faux sand bed, its marine epoxy with sand. appearance of sand but cleanliness of BB. If i were to do a tank that small i would do bb though.

chort55 · Nov 9, 2012

With a small tank I would actually do sand over BB because of the slight buffering capabilities of sand. The little ones are hard enough to keep things in line IMO.

mc-cro · Nov 9, 2012

unfortunately, sand has no buffering capability, that is a myth.

You can do either, a DSB will help with phosphates and nitrates, but on a tank that small, water changes would easily manage this.

If it were me, I would go bare bottom, and just do regular water changes.

Fatmike92 · Nov 9, 2012

thin layer of sand

mc-cro · Nov 9, 2012

I tried the thin layer of sand, I actually had the worst experience with it.

Its too shallow to give you any of the DSB benefits, but its sand so it still collects detritus, and you cant remove the detritus without removing the sand, so your nitrates climb too high. Unless you just want to replace the entire sand bed with every water change, and have no flow because shallow sand blows everywhere with minimal flow

Fatmike92 · Nov 9, 2012

im sorry you had that experience

But i have never had any of those problems and i think it looks much better than bare bottom. and ya its to shallow for any of the DSB benefits but it looks nice.

sand is heavier than detritus so if you kink the syphon a little it still picks up the detritus, if there is any, and not the sand.

Trex · Nov 9, 2012

What do you plan on having in the tank? Some creatures will require/do better with a sandbed.

ScottyMcReefer · Nov 9, 2012

Great input you guys! And as for fish I only plan on putting one or possibly 2 smaller fish in there. avoiding ones that benefit from sand. Although a goby shrimp combo in a zoa filled tank would be pretty sweet....

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Trex · Nov 9, 2012

If you do go with the goby/shrimp pair, be weary of any zoa frags, the pair will move them to help build their cave entrance -- at least that is what my pair does, heck they even try to move my 5 inch clam.

Isoprene · Nov 9, 2012

I have a 5g ecopico, I have a black sand bed that's about 1.5 inches thick. I got a super small conch from my LFS and I have a blue hermit and 2 snails. With a 3 lb rock it works perfect. I have a small clown and a ricordea garden (in the works). Its only about 2 months old but it seems fine. BB looks ugly as hell to me.

If sand was a problem in all honesty i would pick my 1 rock out siphon it all up, replace it with new sand and put the rock back in. The sand makes it for me. just my 2 cents.

ScottyMcReefer · Nov 9, 2012

Isoprene said:
I have a 5g ecopico, I have a black sand bed that's about 1.5 inches thick. I got a super small conch from my LFS and I have a blue hermit and 2 snails. With a 3 lb rock it works perfect. I have a small clown and a ricordea garden (in the works). Its only about 2 months old but it seems fine. BB looks ugly as hell to me.

If sand was a problem in all honesty i would pick my 1 rock out siphon it all up, replace it with new sand and put the rock back in. The sand makes it for me. just my 2 cents.

Any trouble with ammonia or nitrates with the sand bed? How often and how big of h2o change?

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extremehobbyist · Nov 15, 2012

I would be very careful if you decide to get a goby pair, because they tend to be jumpers in small areas. As for the sand bed I would not do it. The sand in my opinion would have little to no impact on nurient export with this little of surface area. I would suggest frequent water changes 1-2 times a week and syphon the bottem each time to pull up detres.

Isoprene · Nov 16, 2012

I havent had any problems after cycling with nutrients, however I am only putting shrooms in my tank. I do a solo cup worth of W/C 1 - 2 times per week depending on how much i fed my little clown. I just took my little guy out last night and have him in q/t with what will hopefully be his life mate another true perc. The tank is fallow atm, dont plan to add any fish till i have full coraline and some good corals in there.