Sand or bare bottom for large tank

[Murica]

I have a large tank (450 gallons and 300 sump) and it’s currently bare bottom. The uglies are over and it’s stable..

I miss the look of sand, but was wondering if it’s worth the effort in such a large tank. Do you need to constantly clean sand in a large tank or can you get away without cleaning it if you have enough CUC in the sand bed?

If you do have to clean it, can you do it a few times a year or is it something you need to do every week?

I would prefer a larger grain sand, what would be a good choice?

Most importantly... for those of you with large tanks, do you like having sand or do you regret it?

 

[Mjl714]

Like you, I like the look of sand and love some sand burrowing wrasses. Sorry, I do not have a large tank.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Bb or die!
Lol
-d

 

[rockdiver]

LS

 

[ReefCheef]

bump

 

[Garf]

I had bare bottom 180 gal DT 15 years ago, I loved it. The wife didn’t, so sand went in

 

[laverda]

I prefer sand and don't really do any maintaince on it. I like wrasses pistol shrimp and gobies that need a sand bed too.

 

[zalick]

I have a 6’ x 3’ with special grade sand. Maybe 2”. I prefer the look of sand. I currently have a sand sifting goby so the sand is staying put for now. I had fine sand prior and I’d never make that mistake again. Constant sand in the water column when fish dust it up.

I don’t vacuum often. Maybe 1/4 ever 3 months or so. And rotate so it’s one full vacuum worth per year. I’ve definitely gone a year or so with no vacuum.

I’ve had this setup for 7 years.

I had a bare bottom in a smaller tank before this setup for about 5 years.

although I prefer the look with sand, and don’t mind the maintenance, the biggest draw back is worrying about flow and pushing sand around.

it’s certainly more of a chore to vacuum in a large tank just time wise. It’s my least favorite maintenance job.

my goby is around 5 yrs old. When she dies, the sand is probably coming out. The negatives of worrying about pump placement and added maintenance outweigh the benefit for me personally.

my wife may disagree though and the sand may stay.....

 

[mdb_talon]

Thats like asking a group of people if they like coke or pepsi...i prefer BB

 

[Jeffcb]

Sand

 

[fcmatt]

Sand

sand++

bare bottom is boring. I used to do it for years and now I would never go bare bottom again. Just buy the right grain size of sand so it looks almost powdery (meaning mix two grain sizes) but does not blow around in a high flow tank. There is a sweet spot and I would have to check my order history to recall what I bought.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

In a small tank like mine being high flow with acros, I can't do sand. Only BB works. But I definitely prefer the more natural look of sand. If I had a really big tank, I'd try the larger grain sand as you mentioned and hopefully it wouldn't blow around as much.

 

[JCM]

Sand for me. Barebottom definitely has benefits but for me, I'll take the sand every time.

 

[Murica]

Thanks for the info, anyone else??

 

[Murica]

Is Fiji pink and special grade really different? Any benefits over the other?

 

[JCM]

Yes, special grade is much coarser than fiji pink.

 

[Murica]

Bump

 

[Timfish]

Definitely sand and definitely coke. There's a lot of beneficial biology going on in sand with microenvironemnts, pH gradients, biofilms and endoliths. For the most part I rarely do anything for the sand for years in my systems but when I get one of the nuisance algae growing on it I may use a gravel siphon or I may siphon our the top layer with the algae, soak the sand in H2O2, rinse and return to the system.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Never seen me a bare bottom reef...

 

[rgulrich]

I'm a rubble kind of guy. Lots of flow in the reef had the oolitic sand blowing from one end to the other every time the current shifted. The rubble provides lots of space for bristle worms, copepods and pals, brittle stars and the like to hang out. Not to mention half a bazillion dwarf blue hermit crabs and a variety of snails I've had in there for a number of years. Gobies and pistol shrimp have no issues moving it around as desired (home decorating purposes) and the urchins keep it pretty well polished.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ray