My tanks don't wear pants. I'm completely barebottom now, and have been for awhile. Having said that, I object to the barebottom write up on this post. I don't think its fair.
This lack of substrate is preferred by those hobbyists who prefer a clean, sterile look in their aquarium
This is what people with sand say and it kind of ticks me off. It isn't even remotely sterile. It is, as you state, easier to maintain. But sterile? Are you kidding me? I have all kinds of growth along my bottom from coraline to zoas to tube worms. Sterile? HAH!
While maintenance is easy, it must be done regularly as debris blowing around the tank can be very unattractive.
It really doesn't have to be that frequently. I siphon detritus every couple weeks. Big deal? When I had the SPS only tank, I had so much flow nothing ever settled, and it wasn't just floating around. Good lord. And "unattractive" is more anti-barebottom bias.
The lack of substrate means that the hobbyist is gaining no natural filtering benefit from the substrate
This is either overblown or an outright myth. I have no filtration problems at all from just rock. None.
unable to keep sand-dwelling inverts or sand-sifting fish.
This is overblown with the exception of some very particular sand sifters. I have an aquacultured watchman goby that has never even seen sand. Never. He's perfectly fine. A sand sifting starfish would be a problem, but they'll starve even in a monster DSB. It just takes longer.
Additionally, Extra care must be taken when building rock structures or when working in a BB tank as there is nothing to absorb the impact should a rock wall collapse.
Again, overblown. I've dropped rocks. Plenty. They really don't come crashing down in water anyway. I've never cracked anything from a rock drop, ever. Can it happen? Probably, but I've never seen it and I've dropped LOTS of rocks onto bare bottom. If the tank was empty its a bigger problem.
My rocks always go directly onto my glass. No problems, ever. And if you're really paranoid, its cheap and easy to add starboard to the bottom.
A study conducted on the denitrifying effects of sand beds noted what appeared to be a correlation between substrate depth and aquarium deaths; with death rates up to twice as high in shallow substrate tanks, and a word of caution that "it doesn't get much shallower than bare-bottom." While I've attached a link to the article, I urge caution in reading too much into the study, as this was not the focus of the actual research.
And this is just ridiculous. Plenty of us are keeping plenty of fish in bare bottoms. Most aquaculture facilities use barebottom exclusively in their rearing tanks! This study shouldn't even be brought up in the same paragraph as barebottom. One, it wasn't even a barebottom study. And two, it is completely obvious at this point that we aren't having any problems with fish.
You like sand? Great! Use it! I did for years! I just get tired of correcting BB myths across the various forums. Basically, the moment you use the word "sterile" and "BB" in the same sentence you'll get me riled up.
