Sandy or bare bottoms?

[Ishy]

I went BB on my latest setup and I love it. So easy to siphon out detritus and crud. Overall my parameters are stable and eventually the bottom will be covered in purple corraline which I think looks great.

For ease of maintenance and no sandstorms I prefer BB.

That's a really clean looking tank, what size is it?

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

I prefer a sandy bottom, preferably an aragonite material. It aides in buffering phosphate levels as it sucks up phosphate and releases it to find equilibrium with the water. You'll have less large-swings that way. I also prefer it because I carbon dose, and over time sandbeds become "nitrate factories" so this aides in carbon dosing to avert an imbalance where phosphate climbs easier than nitrates.

Used to run barebottom, but the parameter swings were more abrupt and evident.

 

[happyhourhero]

Barebottom.

 

[Wilsoni]

I went BB on my latest setup and I love it. So easy to siphon out detritus and crud. Overall my parameters are stable and eventually the bottom will be covered in purple corraline which I think looks great.

For ease of maintenance and no sandstorms I prefer BB.

Is that a 4 bulb ATI with an XHO? Also what is that glowing nem in the front? CO Sunburst?

 

[Wilsoni]

Since we're on the topic, I stumbled upon a funky BB tank here on R2R which was completely covered with shelf rock that was epoxied together as the base. It looked kinda neat with just traces of the actual glass bottom showing for negative space. I wish I could find it again...

If anybody is familiar with the specific tank that I'm referring to, I'd love for you to share it so I can see it again

 

[salty01]

I'm really enjoying the BB for the minimalistic part I do miss the sand

but I don't miss Sand dunes...

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I had a bare bottom for about a year or so. I hated it. It looked unnatural. What makes your sand "dirty" is not the sand, but the dirt.... so now you have a dirty bottom panel instead of glass. I know the bare bottom is supposed to be easier to clean, but there will be dead spots where it collects. Of course it will be in a place that's visible but uncleanable.... even with a baster or rigid tubing, because that's just how luck rolls. Even though it's easier to clean up, you're not going to clean it any more frequently. My "bare bottom friends"... sure it was clean when they knew I was coming, but when it was an impromptu visit.... not so much. I use a #3 sand, so it doesn't blow around the same.

I love the natural mini dunes it develops.

 

[rpercula]

I have bare bottom and it so much easier to clean and keep. I have Redtail Tarmarin Wrasse and yellow tail in my tank for over a year, with a small container for sand.
(I had sand before and when I shut down the tank I was amazed at how bad the sand smelled coming out of the tank. If the tank crashed it would probably kill everything in the tank.) In my BB tank I have tons of pods, snails, starfish, and bristol worms in my sump and tank. I siphon to clean the tank and if you siphon into a filter sock in the sump you can clean out waste without even doing a water change. If some of the waste gets in the sump, which is also bare bottom. do a water change there and have a clean sump as well.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I was BB before and am again. I love BB with a black bottom. I left a little sand in the bottom for wrasse this time, but it isn't working out (loving the gyre 150) so it will get shop vac'd out next water change.
The key to BB is keeping detritus in suspension.
2011

2016 reboot with less rock and no coral. lol

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

Wonder if GSP would cover the bottom and look like grass!! Lol

Yes they would. I had encrusting montipora and cyphastrea growing on the glass.

 

[lou dog420]

I went BB on my latest setup and I love it. So easy to siphon out detritus and crud. Overall my parameters are stable and eventually the bottom will be covered in purple corraline which I think looks great.

For ease of maintenance and no sandstorms I prefer BB.

Nice looking setup you got there!

 

[lou dog420]

Barebottom.

Nice!!

 

[lou dog420]

Thanks for all the input guys, some good info here!!

 

[zoomonster]

I've pretty much tried them all including dsb with plenum. I have sand probably 4" deep now. Looks better, makes tank brighter, allows for sand burrowing fishes like wrasses and other critters like nassarious. Other fish like it too being able to dig caves under rocks. Do a good mix and you won't have sandstorm issues even with high flow like I have. What I have now is about a 70/30 mix of seaflor and sugar sand.

As far as bare bottoms sure they are easier to keep clean but they have some oddities I don't care for. World Wide corals is a good example. They use starboard bare bottom tanks and it just looks weird/unnatural to me when the bottom of the tank is covered with coral encrusting. Someone mentioned GSP... they would quickly cover the entire bare bottom tank and soon after everything else. Another benefit of sand is the ability to isolate things like GSP.

 

[hawkinsrgk]

I had a 2 inch sandbed for around 3 years and have just removed as much of it as I could. Nitrates got close to 80 and was not able to get it down. After removing the sandbed nitrates are around 5. I would vacuum the sandbed every other week

 

[robbie8691]

Which do you prefer, sand or bare bottom? If you prefer BB, lets see a pic please!

I have used white,black and bare bottom with my tanks and I love the black sand the best of all

 

[ReeferBen]

I do BB all the way. I have been keeping tanks for a long time, I used Plenums and UG filters, and DSB, but finally settled on BB and never went back. I do have a fuge and run a remote sand bed in the fuge thats easy to remove or replace to deal with nitrate.

When I pull the sand out of any long established tank the LR sheds detritus out and the tank is IMO easier to maintain and easier to avoid issues building up over time. You can vacuum sand in sections to keep it cleaner or add things to stir it for you to an extent but over time I always had issues. Sometimes years went by before I had to take the sand out to solve algae or growth issues.

Its a reefing tho, so ya know theres always more then one way to get things done.

 

[FishLover01]

The top picture looks very unnatural but is probably great for having low nitrates. The bottom picture looks natural the way a reef should look. I'd definitely go with sand. BB is boring.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

The top picture looks very unnatural but is probably great for having low nitrates. The bottom picture looks natural the way a reef should look. I'd definitely go with sand. BB is boring.

Boring?
TV is boring... a reef tank wether it be BB, SSB, DSB, etc is amazing!

 

[lou dog420]

The deed is done, 60 lbs of Fiji pink.