How deep are your DT sand beds?

[E.Rude]

I am planning on 2" of Carribsea Seaflor Special Grade for my upcoming 200DD build and wanted to get some comparisons/insight from experienced large tank owners. Thanks!

 

[FFrankie]

I run the same material but at 1-1 1/2".
I don't want filtration zones in my sand bed. It is just for visualization purposes.
I believe the benthic zone starts at 2- 2 1/2" and deeper.

 

[ca1ore]

Depends a bit on what it is you imagine the purpose will be. If you just want it for its aesthetic appeal, then 1 inch will suffice. If you think you will be keeping sand burrowing/sleeping fish in this tank, then 2 to 3 inches is probably better. Although I have never run a DSB in my main display, I believe 4 inches is viewed as a minimum.

I run 2 1/2 inches of the special grade sand in my tank which seems to satisfy my wrasses, has an extensive population of worms, and doesn't appear to be generating any chemical nasties.

 

[slief]

I've done away with just about all the sand in my DT. After years of having lots of sand and dealing with scratches along with the sediment that collects in the sand and the resulting nuisance algae issues, I find that having a sand free bottom is much more sanitary and infinitely easier to maintain. In the short term the bare bottom can be unsightly but in my case, I have enough coraline on the bottom now that the bottom blends into the aquascape very well. So much so that the bottom of my tank looks like live rock. I still have a few islands of sand that were pushed by my flow and I leave those there to add to the bio diversity but other than that, I'm a bare bottom kind of guy.

That said, I do maintain a DSB in my main fuge along with a couple inches of sand in my display fuge.