Sand or bare bottom?

[KTownReefer]

I’m considering removing the sand from my 90 gallon mixed reef. It has been setup for approximately 4 months. I currently have Cyano on the sandbed and don’t want to use ChemiClean if I don’t have to. I currently have no fish in this system. What are your thoughts?

 

[MattDaReefer]

I like a sand bed, Looks more natural and you get the shimmer effect from it also. The cyno can be removed by vac the sand bed and cut back on the nutrients they feed on.

 

[KTownReefer]

I like a sand bed, Looks more natural and you get the shimmer effect from it also. The cyno can be removed by vac the sand bed and cut back on the nutrients they feed on.

I agree that sand is a better look and I have sand in my other 4 tanks I’m not feeding this tank accept for 5ml/day AcroPower as there aren’t any fish in this system.

 

[ahiggins]

Well you’ve probably bottomed out your nutrients so wether you have sand or not you’ll have cyano. I like the look of sand but all debating not using it on my next system. Cyano will grow on any surface so if you’re looking to get rid of cyano, taking the sand out won’t help. It’ll just grow somewhere else. You can dose your system to get it back in line (the cause) or your can treat with chemiclean and bandaid the cause.

 

[Jono1487]

Removing the sand at this point may cause big instability with the tank. I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

[KTownReefer]

Well you’ve probably bottomed out your nutrients so wether you have sand or not you’ll have cyano. I like the look of sand but all debating not using it on my next system. Cyano will grow on any surface so if you’re looking to get rid of cyano, taking the sand out won’t help. It’ll just grow somewhere else. You can dose your system to get it back in line (the cause) or your can treat with chemiclean and bandaid the cause.

I understand that cyano will grow on the rocks or glass or anywhere it wants to i just thought maybe removing the sandbed might help. You’re suggesting that it’s because my nutrients have bottomed out which is somewhat possible because I’m not feeding the tank as it is fishless. My P04 is 0.19 on the Hanna low range kit and my N03 are at 5 on the Salifert kit so I didn’t think they were to low.

 

[KTownReefer]

Removing the sand at this point may cause big instability with the tank. I wouldn’t recommend it.

If I remove the sand I would do it over the course of a month to try to avoid that instability.

 

[AcroNem]

I'd keep your sand bed and start vaccing it during water changes. Increasing flow while changing water and vaccing the sand bed helps. Sand is much more natural and in the end is more beneficial.

 

[KTownReefer]

I'd keep your sand bed and start vaccing it during water changes. Increasing flow while changing water and vaccing the sand bed helps. Sand is much more natural and in the end is more beneficial.

I agree that it is much more natural. One of the reasons I’m considering removing it though is so that I can increase the flow in the tank.

 

[Bailseeker]

I have a 90 gallon just under a year old. It's my 6th tank (I move a lot), but my first bare bottom tank and I don't think I'll ever use sand again. Not having to clean the sand on a 24" deep tank makes maintenance a lot easier. I as well like the look of sand, but it didn't take long for me to get over not having it. I attached a PVC pipe to a MJ1200 and suck up any crap on the bottom during water changes. I have a Favites plating on the bottom now and plan on moving some Lepto's down to help plate the bottom.

That being said, I ended up with turf algae which was a first for me. Ended up using Vibrant which cleaned it out in a week. Nutrients dropped and I got cyano. I had cyano once in the past and used Chemiclean with a good outcome so I used it again and the cyano was gone in 2 days. If you go with Chemiclean, ramp up your skimmer afterwards and let it drain into a bucket. That helps clean everything out pretty quick as just doing water changes won't help. Knocking on wood, it's been 3 months and my tank doing great with awesome sps growth.

BRS made a comment on their last 160 video about removing sand. They said they definitely regretted it. They made a lot of changes to that tank over the years so it wasn't always what you would call stable.

At 4 months, you're tank is still figuring itself out. If you like sand, keep it and let it play out for another 6 months and see what happens. If you want to get rid of the sand, do it slowly as in 5% every other water change, and hope for the best.

Good luck!!

 

[ahiggins]

I understand that cyano will grow on the rocks or glass or anywhere it wants to i just thought maybe removing the sandbed might help. You’re suggesting that it’s because my nutrients have bottomed out which is somewhat possible because I’m not feeding the tank as it is fishless. My P04 is 0.19 on the Hanna low range kit and my N03 are at 5 on the Salifert kit so I didn’t think they were to low.

I’ve always had that experience and from what I’ve read that seems to be the case when there’s a big outbreak. I’ve had issues in the past even with nutrients that “high” lol I started to see improvement once I got phos up to .25-.3. I also run nitrates between 5-10

 

[Slawman]

I have moved between sand and no sand. I like the look of a sand bed but you have to maintain it (or at least I have always had to). If you don't maintain it it can cause all sorts of problems from capturing PO4 and then releasing it to creating toxic pockets, elevated nitrates.

I go with no sand these days as i cant be bothered to keep it maintained.

If you take it out, do it slowly over a few weeks/months and watch out for anaerobic zones (suck them out with a vacuum all at once), these can nuke your tank.

 

[Brandon103095]

Personally i like the look of sand better. I just went through a cyano outbreak, vacuuming it from the sand wasnt helpful, it was also on the rocks. it was growing over my zoas overnight even with daily removal. i had to act fast so i used chemiclean after reading reviews. It worked amazingly for me and none of my corals/fish were effected. That was about a month ago and ive not seen any cyano return

 

[JoshO]

Personally I have always/will always love sandbeds. We have these aquariums to have a piece of the ocean in our homes, the ocean doesn't have a glass bottom...at least not that I know of anyway!
That being said I've never had a significant enough sized aquarium that maintenance has ever been too problematic! I can imagine with yours it takes a significant amount of time to do!
Personally I've always enjoyed the maintence routines, I love seeing how good things look again after, even if its a pain while I'm doing it!
Like many have said, you'll always encounter outbreaks of any kind if your parameters wander, so the choice is completely a personal one!

 

[Jono1487]

If I remove the sand I would do it over the course of a month to try to avoid that instability.

Okay if you go that route, you may want to remove it over a couple of months just to be safe if you can

 

[MnFish1]

I’m considering removing the sand from my 90 gallon mixed reef. It has been setup for approximately 4 months. I currently have Cyano on the sandbed and don’t want to use ChemiClean if I don’t have to. I currently have no fish in this system. What are your thoughts?

1. cyano can grow on glass
2. I use like 1/4 inch of sand - the best of both worlds Iimo

 

[Nami]

For me, a tank with clean white sand will always look better than a tank with glass bottom.

I know some looks are subjective but I have a hard time understanding people who prefer to look at glass floor over clean white sand in a reef tank.

The counter arguments are high flow and easier maintenance but these are not aesthetic reasons.

 

[Khoinpham]

I have a 90 gallon just under a year old. It's my 6th tank (I move a lot), but my first bare bottom tank and I don't think I'll ever use sand again. Not having to clean the sand on a 24" deep tank makes maintenance a lot easier. I as well like the look of sand, but it didn't take long for me to get over not having it. I attached a PVC pipe to a MJ1200 and suck up any crap on the bottom during water changes. I have a Favites plating on the bottom now and plan on moving some Lepto's down to help plate the bottom.

That being said, I ended up with turf algae which was a first for me. Ended up using Vibrant which cleaned it out in a week. Nutrients dropped and I got cyano. I had cyano once in the past and used Chemiclean with a good outcome so I used it again and the cyano was gone in 2 days. If you go with Chemiclean, ramp up your skimmer afterwards and let it drain into a bucket. That helps clean everything out pretty quick as just doing water changes won't help. Knocking on wood, it's been 3 months and my tank doing great with awesome sps growth.

BRS made a comment on their last 160 video about removing sand. They said they definitely regretted it. They made a lot of changes to that tank over the years so it wasn't always what you would call stable.

At 4 months, you're tank is still figuring itself out. If you like sand, keep it and let it play out for another 6 months and see what happens. If you want to get rid of the sand, do it slowly as in 5% every other water change, and hope for the best.

Good luck!!

Great anwser

 

[hart24601]

Clearly you can have good results with either as many tanks have proven, but I personally won't run a reef tank with a sand bottom there are enough alternatives to me that look just as nice such as starboard with small rocks to break up the plane and for sps focused systems sand always looks unatural to me as reef crests are generally rock bottoms.

 

[S.K.]

I think you need to control Nitrate and phosphate. They should be balanced or you will get cyano or etc.
I just changed to 1-2inch sand to BB. I like bare bottom more since its easier to clean gunks on the bottom. you get to cover your bottom with montis or zoas. As long as you keep detrius out of your system and control nutrient level(not ulns), I believe corals will thrive.
if you are able to keep your sand bed super clean I suggest to have sand for overall look.