bare bottom versus shallow sand bed for euphyllia tank?

[rockslide123]

Setting up a new system and was wondering if a shallow sand bed offers any advantage over a bare bottom for a 140-ish gallon LPS system. Any recommendations of maintenance routine, sand grain size, or clean up crew would be appreciated.

 

[benjc]

IMO - I like the look of sand. Plus it lets you get sand-burying wrasses, diamond gobies, etc. With an LPS-dominated tank, you won't need/want the in-tank flow rates that can make sand beds problematic. I used about 1.5" of the Fiji Pink sand.

 

[rockslide123]

I'm with you. I really love the look of sand. But have always been torn about maintenance:

a)should I totally churn it up during water changes and suck up all the organisms that live there?

b)just vacuum the detritus on the top and save the sand dwellers?

Also, I'm always concerned about what's accumulating under the rocks.

 

[Tweaked]

Your going to get answers all over the place in regards to sand vacuuming/stirring. I'm a BB guy and really like the look, but everyone is different.

 

[Fishy 1]

I ran my tank BB for a while but found that the system was way to sterile in regards to nutrients. I add about a 1/2" of sand and the tank is already looking much happier and nitrates are sitting at about 2ppm, just were I want them. The reason I only added 1/2" an inch is I wanted the hermits and snails to turn it over and keep it fresh with out me doing anything. There are stacks of pods living in the sand too.

As far as I'm concerned, a shallow sand bed is a great way to go for a LPS dominant tank as your not pumping a lot of water flow like with SPS and you'll have a small production of plankton from it to(from what I've read). I say go with sand:thumbsup:

 

[Fishy 1]

I ran my tank BB for a while but I found that the water was to sterile in regards to nutrients. I added 1/2" of sand and nitrates are steady at 2-5ppm, just were I want them. The reason I only added 1/2" was I wanted the hermits and snails to turn it over to keep it 'fresh' so there weren't any stagnant spots. There are a stack of little critters living in the sand and the tank looks much better already.

For a LPS dominant tank I say you should run sand for sure

 

[Fishy 1]

No idea why I double posted, my bad.

 

[rockslide123]

Fishy, I'm thinking 1/2-1" would be all the sand i would want. What size sand did you go with?

 

[cloak]

I would probably go with a 1" sand bed, and just use a power head to stir the substrate up maybe once a month or so. (right before a water change) Siphon out as much detritus out as you can, and run a filter sock until the water looks clear again. Piece of cake. GL.

 

[Fishy 1]

Fishy, I'm thinking 1/2-1" would be all the sand i would want. What size sand did you go with?

I put in some pretty fine sand, think slightly bigger that sugar size. I dragged my fingers through it yesterday and noticed that it was slightly darker on the bottom, so I think I'm going to have the stir it up weekly before a water change.