Best SPS Tank Substrate Choices (or lack thereof)

[stancfii]

Spray paint the outside bottom of the glass an off-white and go bb.

 

[overexposed]

Love the timing of this thread Jordan - I'm also trying to decide what substrate to use on my new build. I think I'm going to use some kind of sand / crushed coral mixture, just not sure what type of sand will be least likely to blow around on me. I started up the 90 gallon as a barebottom and although it was much easier to maintain, I really love the look of a sandbed.... don't regret adding the CC at all.

 

[Wazzel]

To each their own. Not my cup of tea but I prefer a more natural aesthetic.

Our tanks are far from natural looking.

But, yes I agree, to each their own. I have tried deep sand and shallow sand beds in addition to bare bottom. I have had my best results with bare bottom tanks.

 

[jroovers]

I would either go with a larger substrate or bb.
Jeff

I think this is summed up pretty well.

It would be cool to see a carpet of coral on the bottom of tank, like a GSP lawn, but that would become pretty invasive pretty quickly unless you could prevent it from encroaching on your rocks and SPS somehow. Also, not sure it would like the high flow SPS tanks typically have, maybe better off in an SPS or softy tank. Who knows though, maybe worth a try! That said I think I'll end up going either BB or Florida crushed coral again.

 

[jroovers]

Love the timing of this thread Jordan - I'm also trying to decide what substrate to use on my new build. I think I'm going to use some kind of sand / crushed coral mixture, just not sure what type of sand will be least likely to blow around on me. I started up the 90 gallon as a barebottom and although it was much easier to maintain, I really love the look of a sandbed.... don't regret adding the CC at all.

Well definitely don't be shy about sharing which route you go!

 

[sanchoy]

Had dsb for over 7 years same tank. Tons of pods. If it wasn't for the love of gobies and pistols I would go bb. Next tank for sure will be bb.

 

[overexposed]

I think this is summed up pretty well.

It would be cool to see a carpet of coral on the bottom of tank, like a GSP lawn, but that would become pretty invasive pretty quickly unless you could prevent it from encroaching on your rocks and SPS somehow. Also, not sure it would like the high flow SPS tanks typically have, maybe better off in an SPS or softy tank. Who knows though, maybe worth a try! That said I think I'll end up going either BB or Florida crushed coral again.

FWIW I have found that gsp loves high flow. One of beths tanks has an enormous colony growing just under a powerhead. I have a frag of it growing in my tank on the highest rock possible, right above the wave box output. It's now covering about half of that 5 lb rock.

I'm almost certain that I am going to do a mixture of CC and a finer grain but still fairly corse sand in the new tank. I would like to be able to keep a sand sifting goby and/or a sea cucumber. The CC that I add will likely be my current substrate after it has been considerably vacuumed. I've got a good population of various microfauna that I would like to seed the new tank with... little stars, pods, snails, etc..

Something else I was thinking about suggesting to you, because I know you are good with epoxy is a fake sandbed. I've seen people do this to get the BB low maintenance with the look of having sand. Get a sheet of start board with the same footprint as the inside of your tank, mix up some sand with an adhesive (I can't remember what was used - epoxy or aragacrete or something else), and then apply it to the starboard. It dries to look like sand but is rock solid. And depending on what you are going to do with your aqua scape, you could glue in pegs where you want rocks to sit so that they stay in place nicely.

Food for thought...

 

[jroovers]

Something else I was thinking about suggesting to you, because I know you are good with epoxy is a fake sandbed. I've seen people do this to get the BB low maintenance with the look of having sand. Get a sheet of start board with the same footprint as the inside of your tank, mix up some sand with an adhesive (I can't remember what was used - epoxy or aragacrete or something else), and then apply it to the starboard. It dries to look like sand but is rock solid. And depending on what you are going to do with your aqua scape, you could glue in pegs where you want rocks to sit so that they stay in place nicely.

Food for thought...

That is a curious idea... not sure that I've seen that elsewhere... but a great idea potentially. :beer:

 

[dangros]

for all these bb tanks, what is in your sump?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I have had both bare bottom and sand bed in my set up. I have found that a bare bottom tank requires more maintenance in the sense that tank floor looks somewhat dirtier despite regular syphoning of detritus. I have recently switched back to sand bed and use Caribsea fijipink. The depth of the sand varies between 0.5"-1". I did not need to lower water flow to avoid sand storms. All I did was to point my tunze pumps towards the water surface. In the past, keeping the sand clean was a major undertaking. This time round, I bought two orange-lipped conches, which seem to be keeping the sand really clean. I also have eight large nassarius snails. They turn the sand over nicely. Adding the sand also provided stability to the water chemistry in that my long-term battle against cyano seems to be coming to an end. I can attribute this to increased bacteria population colonising the sand surfaces.

Moreover, I am fully aware that sand beds collect detritus and are magnet for nutrients, such as phosphates and nitrates. For this reason, I will replace my sand bed once every year in stages as a matter of routine.

 

[Wazzel]

for all these bb tanks, what is in your sump?

Just a skimmer, heater and one piece of LR that did not fit with my scape in mine.

 

[jroovers]

Moreover, I am fully aware that sand beds collect detritus and are magnet for nutrients, such as phosphates and nitrates. For this reason, I will replace my sand bed once every year in stages as a matter of routine.

I guess there are pros and cons maintenance wise of BB versus substrate... while there may be a bit more vacuuming of collected detritus with BB, you don't have to suction out a whole sand bed in stages, and then replace it, which can both be labour intensive and costly, and also impact aesthetics.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Moreover, I am fully aware that sand beds collect detritus and are magnet for nutrients, such as phosphates and nitrates. For this reason, I will replace my sand bed once every year in stages as a matter of routine.

I guess there are pros and cons maintenance wise of BB versus substrate... while there may be a bit more vacuuming of collected detritus with BB, you don't have to suction out a whole sand bed in stages, and then replace it, which can both be labour intensive and costly, and also impact aesthetics.

I have had a 1 - 1.5" sand bed for two years that I simply stir up and vacuum every time I perform a water change and I have had no problems. My sand bed is probably down to 1/2" now as I always suction some out when I vacuum so I will probably add some more sand here soon. It is really just for aesthetics and I think it looks much nicer than BB.

 

[JDuong916]

I'm setting up a 270 next month and I'm going to buy one bucket of white RTV silicone to pour into the tank. Before it dries I'm going to sprinkle some white and black sand on it. I think this will give me the nice sand look while being easily maintained. I'm going to miss my gobies and garden eel though =(

 

[whiteshark]

This is my sandbed in action with two Koralia 1400s and 2 MP10s going full blast. Several months in and still loving it:



FTS with 3 MP10s:

 

[arc eye]

OP, which way did you go?

 

[overexposed]

He's still building his tank . I went with seafloor special and a bit of crushed coral on top fwiw....

 

[cnewsome]

I like Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand, stays in place even with high flow

 

[overexposed]

I like Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand, stays in place even with high flow

Not my experience so far tbh. I think different people have different definitions for "high flow." I have two 6105s and a big tunze wavebox going and my seaflor grade special is moving all over the place. Not like a sandstorm, but I'm definitely seeing the sand shift and create major dunes on a daily basis.

 

[jroovers]

OP, which way did you go?

He's still building his tank . I went with seafloor special and a bit of crushed coral on top fwiw....

Phil (OE) is correct, still in my build, haven't decided. I'm hoping I'll have my plumbing tested this week and my tank in place up and running with SW by the end of the weekend.

Not my experience so far tbh. I think different people have different definitions for "high flow." I have two 6105s and a big tunze wavebox going and my seaflor grade special is moving all over the place. Not like a sandstorm, but I'm definitely seeing the sand shift and create major dunes on a daily basis.

This was also my experience in the past. I'm leaning towards a thin layer of seafloor special, with a thin layer CC on top as well. No more than an inch or so of total substrate. That may change though.