With sand or without sand

[Roberto CRC]

Hi dudes,

Actually your reef are running with or without sand and which are pros and cons of this?

Regards

 

[AiKkz]

I went with special grade dry sand, and I really wish I went bare bottom. Especially with an sps tank with lots of flow.. sand cons = scratches glass, blows around, harder to clean. Sand pros = more beneficial bacteria , looks more natural

 

[Jvesche20]

I actually have 2 tanks on with sand and one without.

Pros without sand IMO:
Coralline algae takes over bottom of the glass looks really nice
easier to maintain (don’t have to clean the sand)

Con without sand:

Detritus build up
Glass can get scratched up easily if you have rock
Rock work isn’t as stable the sand creates a more secure base for the rock
Can’t have certain fish such as gobys or coc


Pros of sand:
I have black sand with white chunks and I love the look. Hawaii black sand.
I have a diamond goby that cleans all the sand for me.
Less scratches on the bottom
Holds together the rock work better.
Don’t have to worry about dropping something then cracking the glass. (I’ve dropped large pieces of rock before and almost pooped my pants when doing so)
Holds a lot of beneficial bacteria

Cons of having sand:

It can get covered in algae if it’s not cleaned or tank has bad parameters.
Sometimes can be a pain to clean the sand.


It really depends on what you want to do with your tank and what you wanna keep in there IMO.

 

[Beefyreefy]

Always had sand. I like the way it looks and all the little critters that live in it. That being said I just upgraded my tank from a 90 gallon to a 125 gallon. I just made a quick decision on the fly to leave the old sand out. I can honestly say I really love not having the sand now. Everything seems happy so far, fish, coral, and inverts. I can really crank up the flow and the coral and fish seem to like that more. Keeping the old sand presentably clean was a pain and looking back, I think it’s trapped detritus was a big part of the algae issues I suffered from time to time. I think I’m officially done with sand in the display tank, although I’m actually considering a remote sandbed in the sump so I can shut it off when there is a problem or for cleaning.

 

[Kid_Vegas]

I’ve always have sand, I just preferred the look of it. I do Amit I have to suction the sand more in order to keep that clean look.

 

[SPR1968]

I just thinks it’s personal preference

I’m about to start a large build and I just can’t imagine not having sand their, because it looks more natural, to me anyway.

I can see the benefits of no sand of course

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Personally not a fan of bare bottom, pretty big eye sore. Many of the pros/cons have already been stated. There are a lot of interesting cucumbers and fish that require sand. With the right livestock sand can be maintained with no work on your end. I can't imagine setting up sand less tank or one without rock, they both are necessary in my book.

 

[Timfish]

Definitely use sand. There's a lot of biology going on in sand and we are still a long way from understanding it all. It doesn't have to be in the display tank, although I think a white substrate looks better and is easier to keep white than an algae covered bottom, an inch or two in a sump refugium will help.