Sand or No Sand

smirkis · Jan 25, 2020

This is a night shot so everything is asleep, but with the right flow it just stays clean. At least for me anyway. I’m working on covering my bottom entirely with nanorox collars. Sand vs bare is a pretty common topic and in the end it all comes down to what you like and enjoy looking at. It’s your tank

tstar · Jan 25, 2020

I wonder how much crap gets trapped in the rockwork on bare bottom systems vs in the sand where it can be more easily removed??

Tim

Seagars · Jan 30, 2020

Magellan said:
If you have the right cuc, your sand will stay clean and help keep your system stable. Plus, sand just looks better and more natural than a bare bottom imo.

plus, as others have mentioned, removing sand from a previously established/stable system can be really bad! If you do want to go that route, definitely follow @Jose Esteves advice and remove it gradually over time.

(I vote sand!)

this is partly why i am considering. CUC is good but my wrasses continue to pick at them. they don't hide in the sad so only have because i have had it for years.

khmer86 · Mar 10, 2020

dadnjesse said:
I removed all my sand in one day. First I drained half the tank then put all live stock into the water then drained the rest and put all the rock into that then I used a shop vac and removed all the sand. My tank, all my sps and live stock was fine. Also I haven't had any Algae problems since.

@dadnjesse - Did you have any nitrate spikes or any abnormal parameter spikes? I read that doing a mass sand removal will unleash the monstrosity that may crash a tank or have serious ill effects.

Lorenz725 · Mar 10, 2020

I have always had sand in my tanks never thought I would like the look of BB. When I set up my drop off tanks I did one with sand one without. I love both tanks but the BB is so much easier and cleaner.

brandon429 · Mar 10, 2020

Here is a thread doing all the things that were concerning so far without loss

-instant removal beds

- full tap rinse beds

- full swaps

- more cyano fixes than you’ll find anywhere.

-upgrades, downgrades, home moves no recycles.

BRS didn’t consult the sand rinse thread or it would have worked, they could have removed sand in their 160. First link is a 120 gallon reef doing the removal.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

brandon429 · Mar 10, 2020

What I think got the BRS tank down: not adjusting light intensity down by half/ re ramping after the bed rip.

If you do that, and if you remove all sand at once with zero clouding exposed to corals, removing/cleaning/replacing a sandbed works every time we show. If someone removes a sandbed and leaves full production lighting/ 50% chance of bleaching. Marked risk, depending on the intensity acclimation before the ripping of sand. Something about going high organics to zero requires LED re acclimation.