Benefits of going bare bottom?

Sobo's Reef · Sep 9, 2014

pickupman66 said:
You will only see the sump if looking from the top otherwise it will appear mirrored.

Good catch, didn't think of that. Shouldn't be bad then. I'm gonna do my first water change/siphon out sand tomorrow. Not going to do all the sand, just do it in portions

pickupman66 · Sep 9, 2014

Do it in sections so u give your tank a chance to balance the bioload.

hatfielj · Sep 9, 2014

If you have the ability to do large water changes (40-60% at a time) just get a big garbage can and siphon as much of the sand out at once as you can. I did my tank in about 3 siphoning sessions over the course of a week or so. Changed 30 gallons at a time and by the end of the third one I was done. The tank's inhabitants seemed to really like having a large volume water change like that anyway. I had no problems with doing it this way. I have 2 fairy wrasses and they don't seem to miss the sand. They just hide under rocks and sometimes coral colonies.
Its definitely a personal choice. I can see the arguments each way. But for me, I wanted to have the ability to put lots of coral along the bottom and let it encrust all over the glass (much like the WWC displays). I'm not going for a "natural" look, I just want to grow beautiful, colorful corals and have as many of them as I can

I'm very glad I went BB. Already after just 3-4 weeks I have a ton of coraline growth on the bottom. I think the trick to this was scraping all the coraline off my glass after I siphoned off all the sand. It all fell to the bottom and started growing there.

jeremy · Sep 9, 2014

I am in the process of removing my 3 year old sandbed. I am doing it because I am sick of it. L owing around and getting on my rocks and corals. And also because of all the nasty stuff that's built up in it. I am removing a little section at a time 2 times a week till its done. I can't wait till its gone so I can crank up my vortecs and keep all the detritus suspended. Hoping my nutrients come down as a result cause its a full sps tank. And I really like the look when it's covered in coraline like everything else is.

Sobo's Reef · Sep 9, 2014

I would love to do as much as possible but I've been putting my tank thru enough stress for the past few months so I wouldn't wanna stir up too much and then cause more problems ya know? I usually do 25-30g water changes anyways so a few of those should be fine for me. And speaking of coralline. I have a ton of it on my back glass, guess I'll have to scrap it off when the sand comes out and see how it fall