Sand or no sand- if you had to so it again
- Thread starter agiacosa
- Start date
downbeach
New member
I've had a 5+ inch DSB in my current system for the last 6 years, and wouldn't have it any other way. It's a 180 mixed reef, but predominantly SPS. I used the principals set forth in Ron Shimek's article, using CaribSea's sugar sized Oolitic substrate, and activated it with the kit from IPSF, along with their reef worms diversity kit. I have two Fighing Conch's and about a dozen Cerith Snails that are constantly burrowing. I don't do anything to it myself, i.e. syphon, etc. All I can say is mine works as advertised.
reefscape15
New member
yup!
yup!
That said, I will always have a sandbed just due to the aspect of the additional habitat it can provide for countless snails/worms/pods.....not to mention the looks. Barebottom to me just looks way way too un-natural, and my goals of reef keeping are always based around the natural habitat
yup!
That said, I will always have a sandbed just due to the aspect of the additional habitat it can provide for countless snails/worms/pods.....not to mention the looks. Barebottom to me just looks way way too un-natural, and my goals of reef keeping are always based around the natural habitat
trueblackpercula
New member
Another DBS bare bottom SSB thread that will in time get closed.
DSB....nice but has rules to keep it alive
SSB...nice but has another set of rules
Bare bottom ...another set of rules to keep everything happy...remember to clean becomes bad when sps can't feed.
I did all three and have mastered none of them but I have had the most luck with DSB
Good luck on you decision but do your home work first before you dive in.
DSB....nice but has rules to keep it alive
SSB...nice but has another set of rules
Bare bottom ...another set of rules to keep everything happy...remember to clean becomes bad when sps can't feed.
I did all three and have mastered none of them but I have had the most luck with DSB
Good luck on you decision but do your home work first before you dive in.
hobbzz
How do I change this?
I had a bb tank on my last one. Wanted to add some jawfish and a pistol shrimp/goby combo so I went back to sand on the new tank. I hate it. The sand never stays white. The normal diatom blume of a new tank spreads to the sand. Bought a sand "vacuum" to sift It during water changes and the pos only worked once. Barebottom is much easier to clean. And anyone who says sand looks more natural has never been to a real reef. Most of the reef is located far above the sandbed relatively speaking. A majority of corals are found at least 10' above the floor/sandbed, not 10" like in our tanks.
agiacosa
Member
lol!
reefscape15
New member
If our tanks were really meant to "be natural" people would have just sand, and maybe one fish that swims through every hour.................you can never recreate the ultimate natural habitat. For a "display reef tank" I believe that as many aspects that can be incorporated should be.
Please take this with no offense because I honestly consider myself still a reef newbie, even though I've had a reef tank for over 5 years. This is just my opinion and what I strive for
Dexters Reef
New member
not really true as they become a nutrition sink .... deep sand beds just collect detritus and rotting stuff.... and they continue rotting... releasing po4 and more .... untill gone.
DSB and a SPS tank with low nutritions and glowing corals is not really happening .... sure you can have good growth but po4 will not be low enough for corals to glow
Good to know! I don't know my "true phosphates" but my salifert kits always show zero.
I see your point about the sandbeds collecting stuff, and with my tank I am using sugar fine (almost powder like) sand which was to make the spaces between the grains as small as possible to prevent waste from building up.
I also only put a small bit of food in at a time and only add more once every piece is gobbled up. I really am trying to keep waste and algae at a minimum in this tank, and so far after 8 months, my sand is still bright white and nitrates/nitrites/phosphates are all zero. I hopefully am not on some path that will lead to a crash!
hobbzz
How do I change this?
No offense taken. You were actually making the same point as I was, except that the fact that most coral grows no where near sand in the ocean. Our tanks aren't natural. Corals from different oceans mixed with fish from different oceans. Corals that live on sand in the ocean never touching it in a tank and corals that live no where near sand right on top of it in our tanks. You should just do what you like, not worry about what things actually look like in real life out in the ocean.
I have found that it depends on what you keep in the tank. When it's almost all corals and just a few fish a sand bed stays clean and doesn't need much maintenance. I had a 12g nano with just one small goby and a bunch of coral and a 1" sand bed and things were great, just did a water change every 2 weeks. When I had a 40 with a ton of fish and I fed them it turned into a sink and I eventually removed it. So it's probably the tank inhabitants that were dirtying the sand. I would say if you go sand and lots of fish your going to have higher maintenance and should upgrade the filtration a bit. Have high flow and higher flow through the sump to help remove waste. That said my tanks with sand always did better than those without, till they got dirty.
And once they get dirty, it becomes a giant pain to clean them. At least, in my experience.
My new SPS dominated tank is BB. I love it!
Yes it has it's down sides: no pistol shrimp / sand gobies etc. There are some critters you can't keep. And yes, you might miss the look of sand. But as far as looks, I just covered the bottom with plating corals and zoas. I prefer the look of coral over sand anyhow.
As far as detritus, the main benefit of going bb is so that you can have very high flow for sps. I am using 3 mp40's on nutrient export mode and it is awesome. No detritus on the bottom at all. You need to play with placement and level of flow, but once you get it right, almost all of the detritus remains suspended and gets filtered out. Filter socks / mechanical filtration is a must in bb tanks.
IMO bare bottom is not just the absence of sand. It is a system that requires very high flow, proper mechanical filtration and heavy skimming. If you don't invest in ALL of that, you will hate it because you will have a lot of unsightly detritus.
Good luck.
Yes it has it's down sides: no pistol shrimp / sand gobies etc. There are some critters you can't keep. And yes, you might miss the look of sand. But as far as looks, I just covered the bottom with plating corals and zoas. I prefer the look of coral over sand anyhow.
As far as detritus, the main benefit of going bb is so that you can have very high flow for sps. I am using 3 mp40's on nutrient export mode and it is awesome. No detritus on the bottom at all. You need to play with placement and level of flow, but once you get it right, almost all of the detritus remains suspended and gets filtered out. Filter socks / mechanical filtration is a must in bb tanks.
IMO bare bottom is not just the absence of sand. It is a system that requires very high flow, proper mechanical filtration and heavy skimming. If you don't invest in ALL of that, you will hate it because you will have a lot of unsightly detritus.
Good luck.
agiacosa
Member
OK thanks.
I think I can summarize by saying that a sand bed is used by most of you for aesthetics and to provide a home to critters. For pure control over nutrients, bare bottom seems to be preferred by most.
Also, bare bottom can be work too as coralline algae may build up requiring removal.
I think I can summarize by saying that a sand bed is used by most of you for aesthetics and to provide a home to critters. For pure control over nutrients, bare bottom seems to be preferred by most.
Also, bare bottom can be work too as coralline algae may build up requiring removal.
I prefer sand mainly to keep rocks from moving around too much and the look of course. Tried the BB route and it worked well except I dont like to glue all my rocks and things would move around all the time due to current\fish, etc.
I have a 37g cube with a pretty deep sb and never clean or stir it up. goingg on 4 years and the tank is rock solid.
I have a 37g cube with a pretty deep sb and never clean or stir it up. goingg on 4 years and the tank is rock solid.
downbeach
New member
Here's a little more reading on the subject:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/eb/index.php
That's right gbru316, they turn into a pain to clean so I will probably "replace" it. When I do it again I will probably go with 1/2 -1" of 1-3mm sand and every 6 months siphon most of it out into a bucket or fluidized bed, rinse well with salt water and replace to maintain the clean look and prevent the nutrient sink. Should only take a few hours of work. I'll let ya know in 8 months how that process goes...
