What is your "go to" substrate? (if any)

[cloak]

All things being equal, I was just curious what type of substrate you prefer for a reef tank. Bare bottom tanks, shallow sand beds or deep sand beds? You don't have to explain why, I just wanted to see what the latest trend is. Thanks.

 

[clem1975]

Bare I have a shallow sand bed and am not loving it.

 

[KorD]

I have a shallow sand bed in two tanks. I love them.. not hard to clean if needed.
In my frag tank it is a BB. I do not like how things collect down on the bottom and I can see them.

 

[Shep]

I like the shallow sand bed, I think it looks a lot better than DSB or BB

 

[samba_dad]

I use a deep sand bed of live sand in my reef tank. Mixture of sand size for the various layers in the DSB.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Shallow Sand Bed for me! Tropic Eden Reef Flakes is the bomb!

 

[cloak]

Having tried all three of them over the years myself, I'm kind of partial to the shallow sand beds these days. You get that naturalistic look and they're extremely easy to keep clean.

Thank you to everybody who either voted or replied so far. :thumb:

 

[Humblefish]

Shallow Sand Bed for me! Tropic Eden Reef Flakes is the bomb!

+1 I used to do sugar sand in most of my tanks, but that stuff is a PITA. Tropic Eden Reef Flakes (3.5mm size) has been working out well for me lately.

 

[Mark426]

Shallow bed with reef flakes.

 

[Rjramos]

Pure aesthetic to me, so shallow <1" of live sand. If I see algae on the surface I vacuum it out with water changes. Overtime when it almost becomes a bare bottom, I replenish with love sand.

 

[Oscaror]

I don't like white sand (I used to, wish I could get rid of it now) but a nice shallow sand bed consisting of volcanic black sand looks nicer than any bare bottom I've seen

 

[jeremy]

I like the look of a shallow sand bed. I have a are bottom tank and a shallow bed tank. I like looks of shallow bed better but it is nice to crank up the flow on my are bottom tank and not have a sand storm.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

I use deep bed a mixture of crushed coral(for ph control) and black and white aragonite. Also have a sand sifting star and various snails to keep stirred.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I use deep bed a mixture of crushed coral(for ph control) and black and white aragonite. Also have a sand sifting star and various snails to keep stirred.

Welcome to R2R!

 

[d2mini]

Shallow in the display (how i voted) and i have a small dsb in my mangrove tank, tied into the system. Easy to isolate if I need to.
And I get the substrate for my display from Tampa Bay Saltwater Live Rock - Tampa Bay Saltwater Aquacultured Live Rock
It's got a big mix of grains sizes from really tiny up to broken shell size and comes full of life, unlike any packaged "live sand".

 

[twf0369]

I like the looks of a shallow/deep sand bed. It's been easier to maintain the bare bottom for me after my switch 2.5 months ago.

 

[Downbeach]

I've had DSB's since '98, originally had ~ 3" of Southdown, and moved in '05 and added another 4" of CaribSea sugar sized Oolite since the Southdown was no longer available.

 

[cloak]

Hmm.. It's kind of surprising to me to see so many deep sand beds being voted on. They can work in the right hands, but I wonder if the odds might be swayed like that because of the "newbie effect."
Time will definitely tell... GL.

 

[d2mini]

3" is not a DSB.
I believe the minimum to have a real DSB and functioning like a DSB is at least 6".
I'm no expert on them by any stretch but that's what I've always heard.



Every Day ReefEvery Day Reef & Photo

 

[Downbeach]

While I agree that deeper than 3" is better, and increased mine to 7" in '05 after reading Dr. Shimek's article, the minimum accepted depth to have a reasonably effective DSB is 3", providing enough aerobic and anaerobic zones for a complete nitrogen cycle. Here are a few articles for reference:

DeepSandBeds
http://kb.marinedepot.com/article.aspx?id=11010
Mar Subst Opt Art
The Deep Sand Bed - One Of The Most Effective Filtration Methods. | Aquarists Online