Do you regret going BARE Bottom?

AZMSGT · Jun 27, 2019

I am building up my tank and I so like the look of sand. But since this will be a SPS system I thought initially I would just go Bare Bottom.. Now I am having second thoughts..

Maacc · Jun 27, 2019

I would /have done a thin layer of reef flakes and I do ripping flow without a sandstorm.

road_runner · Jun 27, 2019

AZMSGT said:
I am building up my tank and I so like the look of sand. But since this will be a SPS system I thought initially I would just go Bare Bottom.. Now I am having second thoughts..

This is such a topic that I never found real answer to....
Some would swear by it and some would say it never helped with anything...

I think with or without, it's all about husbandry. If you have sand but you have good maintenance schedule, clean the sand during wc, your feeding is reasonable you good.
But you have some timea people confuse high nutrients that comea from their reefing habits, cause nutrients to saturate the sand them you have high po4 no3 in the water. If you remove the sand you remove all these nutrients so you see a drop in po4 no3. But I think without changing the habits the source will stay and eventually even BB will see increase in no3 po4...

There are some great benifits to sand in aquariums...not sure the right thing is removing it so we treat symptoms..

Finally, many of the BB testimonies comes from some of the retail or whole sale setups. The problem there is: to me, these setups are not long term setups. It's hard to judge based on their results. Coral do not stay long before it get frag'ed and send to customers...so I do not really follow such systems except when it come to lighting...

I run exclusively sps setups(with some exceptioms) and always use sand. Every time I build new system I debate going BB but end up concluding there is no enough substanted data out there to show I should go otherwise. So I cave ha ha

Controversial topic indeed

)

ReeferReefer · Jun 27, 2019

Sand is fine if you maintain it. My problem is that I don't like maintaining it. Easier to just siphon out detritus in a BB.

It's important to know you level of commitment and what you can handle. If you don't mind taking an extra few minutes every water change to vacuum the sand, then be my guest.

Montiman · Jun 27, 2019

I ran many bare bottom tanks at the LFS I worked for a few years back even display tanks. I don't think I would ever do a bare bottom home display tank. Sand just looks so much better. It is work cleaning sand but it is also alot of work cleaning a bare bottom. My most OCD coworkers hated the bare bottoms because they showed everything. It was easier to keep a white sand bed than a bare bottom with no detritus pockets.

I also firmly believe that the sand is one of the best areas for bacterial growth and it has a tremendous amount of surface area. The only time I have thought of going bare bottom for a display is with a Non Photo tank where I want particles to stay suspended so they can end up in coral mouths. When I have tried Non Photo tanks in the past the sand always got excessively dirty.

hart24601 · Jun 27, 2019

Heck no I don't regret going BB! Did it many years ago and never have wanted sand again.

Of course if one really likes sand then that's cool too, many ways to have a nice tank, but as to the original question nope, I honestly think it's one of the best choices I made in my reefing "career" around 10 years ago.

JAMSOURY · Jun 27, 2019

You can always just add sand if you don’t like it! I did one bare bottom and one with sand to have the best of both worlds

ScottR · Jun 27, 2019

I LOVE the look of sand and I dearly miss it. I have a BB. But cleaning the tank and keeping it under control is so easy. Will I go back to sand? Probably not.

JAMSOURY · Jun 27, 2019

ScottR said:
I LOVE the look of sand and I dearly miss it. I have a BB. But cleaning the tank and keeping it under control is so easy. Will I go back to sand? Probably not.

That’s true! I love the look of sand too. But with some flow, sometimes it’s just all over the place