thoughts on bare bottom reef
- Thread starter placid
- Start date
- Tagged users None
mc-cro
Active Member
I have a love-hate relationship.. I love the ability to control nutrients, crank up the flow, siphon detritus.. I hate the way it looks. I keep a very shallow sand bed, and replace it about once a year
Bouncingsoul39
Valuable Member
I ran a bare bottom SPS / Zoa tank for a while and loved it. I would siphon the detritus off the bottom once a week with a 1/4 airline hose and the water stayed very clean. You'd be amazed at how much gunk accumulates in a sand bed...I would run one again the only con IMO is that you can't really keep the critters that need a SB like certain wrasses, pistol shrimp etc.
My current tank is bare bottom and I love it. I'll never go back to sand. So much easier to keep clean. Don't have to deal with sand blowing all over corals and rocks. I can let corals encrust and grow all over the bottom of the tank. A lot more room for corals
I'm a fan
Easy to maintain, but not as aesthetically pleasing. Also, some fish require a sand bed. If you ever want a fish that requires sand, you will need to fill a tupperware container with sand for fish to sleep. I really like both types of tanks. Just depends what my goals are.
JMSKI333
Valuable Member
We all know the benefit of the BB so no need to touch on that. I like the idea of it, but I hate they way it looks in most tanks that I have seen. With that being said, I have seen some pretty nice BB reefs. I don't know what makes it or breaks it, but there definitely is an art to making it look good. Sand is more forgiving on aesthetics.
jboogieroc
New Member
Im intrigued by the idea of a BB tank but as it sits i have a 3" sand bed nitrates are a constant battle but it looks more natural plus the gobies and so on love it my fears of a BB are not enough pods to sustain my dragonets and all my little sabd sifting critters but i heard that corals appriciate it alot better
scardall
2500 Club Member
Bare Bottom Hybrid
I have a Hybrid bare bottom tank. No sand but alot of rock work. (stacked so very littlr little rock actually touched the bottom. Only Con is that most of the detruius is either difficult to get to or not at all unless you remove rock and rebuild. PO2 <.2ppm Nitrate 0 to<3ppm nitite 0ppm
Over
All ok.
I have a Hybrid bare bottom tank. No sand but alot of rock work. (stacked so very littlr little rock actually touched the bottom. Only Con is that most of the detruius is either difficult to get to or not at all unless you remove rock and rebuild. PO2 <.2ppm Nitrate 0 to<3ppm nitite 0ppm
Over
Eckolancer
LED GURU
Love them only took my 15 years to try one.
ZooZilla
Community Member
Love them only took my 15 years to try one.
Same boat. Always had some sort of substrate, either DSB or SSB, for the last 12+ years. Recently switched over to BB and loving it so far. Able to use higher flow and lower maintenance.
moulton712
Active Member
I've seen both good and bad looking sand and bb tanks. As a beginner aquascaper it is easier to get a better looking tank with a sand bed. With no sand you need to have an approach to how the base rock looks and flow with the bottom of the tank. Most of that aspect is hidden by sand and as a beginner you deal with the look above the "sand line." Some amazing sand bottom tanks will be aquascaped with bb first then sand added. I personally think sand can take the edge off of aggressive look. It also depends on your tanks goal. A bb tank with all gorgs and soft corals would have a different look as good as an aggressive chalice, sps, bright reef.
It is hard to argue with how good a bright white sand bed looks, but after having tanks that had just disgusting sand beds I will be hard pressed to ever have one again. When coral get big it's hard to access the sand for cleaning, and I figure if your sand bed is so dirty you wouldn't feel comfortable stirring it up, not just what you can reach but all parts, then why have it? With bare bottom all that detritus just isn't there. I don't feel that with our little cubes of water we can create any real benefit using substrate that won't eventually turn into a liability.
Most people don't like the flat bottom look, but there are ways to get around that. Put various size rocks around in key spots (fist size for a medium tank), maybe covered in zoas, or zoas between the rocks. It breaks up that hard plane look and still allows a lot of flow to keep detritus suspended. You don't have to go crazy with rock everywhere, but just a few can really help.
I notice a lot of people talk about "natural" when discussing sand and BB. But there are plenty of coral reefs that have rock substrate, no sand. If you can find pics of those and try and incorporate them in aquascaping perhaps more would be happy with the looks. Really a rocky bottom is more "natural" than sand for many of our systems.
Most people don't like the flat bottom look, but there are ways to get around that. Put various size rocks around in key spots (fist size for a medium tank), maybe covered in zoas, or zoas between the rocks. It breaks up that hard plane look and still allows a lot of flow to keep detritus suspended. You don't have to go crazy with rock everywhere, but just a few can really help.
I notice a lot of people talk about "natural" when discussing sand and BB. But there are plenty of coral reefs that have rock substrate, no sand. If you can find pics of those and try and incorporate them in aquascaping perhaps more would be happy with the looks. Really a rocky bottom is more "natural" than sand for many of our systems.
Last edited:
ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
No substrate for me. Sand was never a must for me in a reef tank. I can keep more corals on the bottom and nutrient issues are non existent.
Tom Blevins
Acroholic
