Replacing sand

[guitareefs]

I had about a 1.5 inch sand bed with a mixture of fine sand and coarse sand. Over time of vacuuming the bed, its down to less than an inch.

The fine sand was the sand i kept from buying the setup. I added coarse sand after setting up the tank. The coarse sand is basically what's left

Should i keep the sand bed as is or should I add more coarse sand? If adding more is the better option, how deep should it be to be beneficial?

 

[skiergd011013]

I had about a 1.5 inch sand bed with a mixture of fine sand and coarse sand. Over time of vacuuming the bed, its down to less than an inch.

The fine sand was the sand i kept from buying the setup. I added coarse sand after setting up the tank. The coarse sand is basically what's left

Should i keep the sand bed as is or should I add more coarse sand? If adding more is the better option, how deep should it be to be beneficial?

I would keep siphoning it until it is gone all together! I have my first bare bottom tank now, and I will NEVER have sand again. have you considered this?

 

[Susan Edwards]

I'm in the same boat except I had the bimini sand with pink flecks that have now all turned green and now going dark purple with coraline. Not as pretty as it was. So I'm debating removing some and replacing. Only thing stopping me is I do have pods so removing sand would remove them. I could try sifting the larger bits out and adding new slowly, a bit at a time.

I have to have a sand bottom. Bare just doesn't speak reef or fish tank to me.

 

[guitareefs]

I thought about bare botttom. I just love the look of sand too much

 

[Gil03]

I went bare bottom a while ago and after a while I got tired of it, it's just not natural looking and that was even having coraline and a few encrusting corals on it. Sure it's easier to maintain as a BB but IMO not the look I cared for. I usually keep an inch of sand just for looks, anything more than that is more maintenance and just asking for trouble later down the road IMO.

 

[LetItReef]

I'm in the same boat except I had the bimini sand with pink flecks that have now all turned green and now going dark purple with coraline. Not as pretty as it was. So I'm debating removing some and replacing. Only thing stopping me is I do have pods so removing sand would remove them. I could try sifting the larger bits out and adding new slowly, a bit at a time.

I have to have a sand bottom. Bare just doesn't speak reef or fish tank to me.

I have the same sand and same issue. I agree, not pretty at all! I use a wet vac when I do WC and it is not an easy task with livestock and rocks. Once I removed it I am thingking replacing it with Reeflakes or as I read this thread- bare bottom.

 

[brandon429]

Gils approach is similar to what I think as well

the hobby went through the 90s and much of the 2000's as a sandbed/hands off approach

things migrated away from that for a reason, though limited applications still exist for any method. the migration was due to sandbeds producing waste that required other offsets, not reducing it for us like they may do in perfectly stratified marine layers etc.

the ideal depth is any depth you keep so clean that flipping your sandbed at any given time would not kill your entire tank. myself, I keep a nonfunctional 6-7" deep sandbed for looks. it is rinsed occasionally, can pass that test above. Its not a giant bioload, its a bunch of inert grains that got tap blasted in august. most large tank keepers of sandbeds nowadays simply stir or keep them pretty clean in other ways. army of gobies possibly

***others keep and experiment with untouched dsb's this is no judgement. I speak from the odds section only

if twenty people are setting up nano or pico reefs, those who rinse beds and store no waste have 100% same biological outcomes and consistencies in their tanks regarding sandbed impacts.


those who do not rinse, and attain age 5 +, vary greatly, with some as totally self supporting (what everyone strived for in dsb work from years past) and others a nitrate headache
I like to go with rinsing only because when problems arise in the tank, they wont be due to a sandbed.