Sand or bare bottom. Need advice

[d2mini]

Thanks guys. Any idea how much I will need? Thinking 100 lbs.

I like around 1.5"-2".
Around 1 lb per gallon.

 

[emmysnewtank]

Throw a pistol shrimp and some nassarius in your sand and they do all the cleaning and sifting for you. we love watching the nassarius come up at feeding time...like little monsters emerging anytime food hits the tank.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

on my 30 inch deep tanks i run deep sand beds and like it, and have fish that like the sand beds.
in my shallow reef i run display bare bottom as its only 14 inches tall. but the fuge is half as big as the tank and has a sand bed. I have tried full bare bottom and am just more comfortable running dsb/fuge etc.

 

[GOSKN5]

You can have a fish tank or a coral tank but if you want a "reef" then sand is a must. I have never seen a single reef in the ocean that is bare bottom.

Sand ! Looks better visually and natural something about barebottom tanks just seems wrong to me but hey to each their own

One of my biggest pet peeves is this site announcing " reef of the month" and the tank is barebottom. To me that tank shouldnt even qualify as a reef. Should be a seperate catergory fish tank of the month or coral tank of the month .

That’s a pretty interesting take- what about tanks that have corals or fish from two different regions that would never be together in the wild? Are they considered a “reef”?

 

[GOSKN5]

Barebottom is much easier from a nutrient export standpoint. I have had both and prefer barebottom as I can keep the tank cleaner. You can also overcome the obstacles (looks, fish that need sand, etc) pretty easily.

All of these were barebottom tanks and a couple had melanarus/coris wrasse in them as well.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

my triggers and eels like the sand alot. on trigger spends half his time rearranging sand. i think it kinda depends what you keep

 

[RedoubtReef]

That’s a pretty interesting take- what about tanks that have corals or fish from two different regions that would never be together in the wild? Are they considered a “reef”?

Nope, not a reef. And it HAS to be all Indo-pacific.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Thanks guys. Any idea how much I will need? Thinking 100 lbs.

I have about 90lbs in my 90 gallon. Roughly the same footprint as yours. 100 lbs should be just about right. Don't worry if it is a little less than 2".

 

[w8lifts]

Love bare bottom, and now my coralline does too! Pink bottom now.

 

[kevgib67]

If you don’t add as much as you think you should have you can always add more at any time later. There are threads out that describe how to do it with out getting a sand storm in your tank. I added an extra 10 lbs 10 months later.

 

[EugeneVan]

Like the others OP, I prefer BB for easy maintenance and cleanup. Also if are planning to have lots of SPS in your tank, you can go as much flow as you can afford for the SPS without worry sand blowing everywhere in the water. I grow green polyp coral on my bare bottom tank. I really like the green lawn look.

 

[czoolander]

That’s a pretty interesting take- what about tanks that have corals or fish from two different regions that would never be together in the wild? Are they considered a “reef”?

Yes haha I like to stir up controversy its a part time hobby of mine

So i guess not technically a Maui reef or a Melbourne reef if you are mixing species but still a reef if it has the sand rocks corals and fish

If you had a barebottom ocean reef ...... the rocks would just be floating in the water? its unnatural and i dont think can be called a reef .

but i guess you are right i am missing elements in my tank to be called a reef .......... sharks lol so do any of us have a true " reef " i guess not really haha

 

[vlangel]

I love the looks of sand and the ease of maintenance of a DSB. (Deep sand beds once established reduce nitrates because of the anaerobic life is a denitrification process). I have gobies, crabs and nassarius snails which need sand. Someday I hope to get a pair of jawfish. I do nothing with my sand but occasionally (every other month or so dance my fingers across the surface of it). My tank is a macro algae, softie dominant system so is tolerant and in need of some nitrates.
Here is a pic:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi gang,
So getting back into the hobby. I know enough to be dangerous. Need advice. Got a water box system. Will have skimmer, carbon reactor, etc. always loved sand bottom but people have said they create nitrates. Questions are this
1. Do they create nitrates?
2. Do I need to clean the sand?
3. How deep do you make it?
Any experience advice would be great. Thanks.

Its a matter of preference. Ive run sand for decades and decided to try bare bottom which lessened amount of silicates, made maintenance easier and even alowed light from sump to share with tank and vice versa

 

[ReeferBill]

Soooo. The consensus is do what you want. Haha. I have a 60 that is bare bottom. Minimal system with canister filter. That’s it. Want to try sand in a better system as I really like the look.

 

[i cant think]

Hi gang,
So getting back into the hobby. I know enough to be dangerous. Need advice. Got a water box system. Will have skimmer, carbon reactor, etc. always loved sand bottom but people have said they create nitrates. Questions are this
1. Do they create nitrates?
2. Do I need to clean the sand?
3. How deep do you make it?
Any experience advice would be great. Thanks.

1. Sand doesn’t cause nitrates, these are formed through leftovers such as food and detritus. This can be dealt with through certain inverts such as Nassarius and Cerith Snails.
2. I personally don’t clean the sand and instead leave it. This preserves most if not all of the life in the sand and gives me a more active ecosystem.
3. How deep you make it is up to you. I personally recommend 1-2 inches minimum (This provides just enough sand for fish like wrasses to hide in). If you wanted something like a Jawfish then ideally 4 inches or more are needed. However if you don’t plan on any of these then you can just have a fine layer of sand.

I personally believe that Wrasses and similar fish that use the sand bed as a survival technique should be kept with sand all the time. These fish have evolved to use the sand whether to use as a burrow or to completely hide in when sleeping or scared for a reason.

 

[UltraKelius]

Two of my nanos are run with sand, and my peninsula nano is bare bottom. I like the ease of cleaning a bare bottom, but I’m struggling (due to my OCD!) to feel like I can go more than a couple of days before syphoning the bare bottom at the moment due to detritus on the bottom collecting in certain areas.

 

[Petcrazyson]

Barebottom is much easier from a nutrient export standpoint. I have had both and prefer barebottom as I can keep the tank cleaner. You can also overcome the obstacles (looks, fish that need sand, etc) pretty easily.

All of these were barebottom tanks and a couple had melanarus/coris wrasse in them as well.

What’s the coral that is on the top left of the first picture. A gorgo?

 

[tydeck]

I have never liked the look of any bare bottom setup.

I agree. While I don’t think they look bad bare bottom. Sand just looks more natural to me. Just my jam though

 

[AydenLincoln]

Do you guys know of a site that can help gauge how much I need? Thinking 1.5-2 inches. Bottom of the tank is 48” by 20”. Also do you recommend this? Seems like a good price.

I’d say 2-3 bags depending on how deep. I have a 20 gallon Waterbox and it took one. I like sand because natural reefs have sand, you can get sand sifting fish, and it’s more surface area for bacteria.