Sand or no sand....that is the ?

Biscutz

Biscutz

New member
I'm in the final stages of getting ready to set up my new 180g mixed reef tank and I can't decide on sand or no sand. My 90g has been set up for over 3 years now with a DSB and I DO have some algae problems, ie bubble and dusting on my glass, that I can't seem to get rid of. I'm very attentive to water quality and husbandry practices but I can't get rid of this algae. Well after a lot of thought and some head pounding I've decided that its has to be my sand bed. Here's the dilemma, my new reef tank will have mostly softies and LPS corals with a few SPS. Now with BB tanks I know its all about flow, but I can't have that much flow in a tank with LPS corals, they seem to get aggravated by to much flow. If I go BB how do I keep the waste suspended in the water column without the massive flow? If not BB can I go with a SSB instead? Maybe vacuum the sand bed out and replace it every so often? As of right now I do not do any maintenance on my existing sand bed, maybe that is the cause of my algae problems.... Well this is a little longer that I had planed. Please chime in with suggestions or ideas, as of now I am open to suggestions:)
 
what you should do it, when you put in the sand, ptu a plastic garbage bag over it, and go gallon by gallon pouring on slowly, if you have a large tank, pump the water back in, and pump it over the bag, the bag will float, ad the sand wont be disturbed, if its a new tank, still let it cycle, so the sand wont kick up as muchm the bacteris clings onto it, leave all your pumps on too
 
When I had a SSB ,I would stir up the bed about 4 times a week,and I never had any problems with it. Now most of my corals are SPS,and I have an acrylic tank. Sand,and acrylic tanks don't mix. I like the look of sand,and if you have the time to stir it up it shouldn't give you any problems. Ted
 
if you still have that carpet in your avatar if he's anything like mine he won't be happy in BB. I had to plant him in a Rubbermaid container with sand to get him to stop roaming the tank and causing mass destruction in his wake. That said I have a LPS/softy tank with BB. I put my 2 Seio 1500's on the bottom blowing "stuff" up to the front by my overflow. What doesn't get to the overflow stays by the front and can be vacuumed out. My other seio 1500 I have at the back of the tank blowing toward the front of the tank. So far (about 6 mts) its doing well. HTH

colleen
 
deep sand beds are problematic in the long run, there is a build up of toxins (short version of the story) going bare bottom is becoming more popular. If your going to use a DSB u should keep it in ur refugium/sump so it can be replaced. Going Barebottom allows you to clean the detrius up easier and it requires no stirring or replacing.
 
I would do a SSB, although i do like BB, you have to have massive flow, so i guess it's really up tp you and what your willing to do.
 
It sounds like we have been having the same thoughts. I recently ( last weekend) moved 3 tanks into one 110 g tank and I couldn't decide if I wanted BB or DSB. I didn't think of SSB sense it was just for looks and would take up more time than I felt it was worth.

After talking to the guy who seemed to start the BB idea and telling him my tank would be mostly shrooms, zoas and LPS he said I should probably go with a DSB since they don't like the high flow he thought was required for a BB and they like the nutrient rich water.

That is what I set up and I kept a 29 gal that I made BB for my SPS.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6828813#post6828813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WILDTHING
if you still have that carpet in your avatar if he's anything like mine he won't be happy in BB. I had to plant him in a Rubbermaid container with sand to get him to stop roaming the tank and causing mass destruction in his wake. That said I have a LPS/softy tank with BB. I put my 2 Seio 1500's on the bottom blowing "stuff" up to the front by my overflow. What doesn't get to the overflow stays by the front and can be vacuumed out. My other seio 1500 I have at the back of the tank blowing toward the front of the tank. So far (about 6 mts) its doing well. HTH

colleen
Click to expand...

Funny thing about the carpet is that he has moved off the sand a long time ago. I found a huge conch shell in the Gulf of Mexico that had a big hole in the top that I thought my fishies would love to hide in. The carpet found this shell and anchored his foot insided of the hole and has never moved since. I was very happy he did this because now he will be much easier to move.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6828390#post6828390 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefrubble
When I had a SSB ,I would stir up the bed about 4 times a week,and I never had any problems with it. Now most of my corals are SPS,and I have an acrylic tank. Sand,and acrylic tanks don't mix. I like the look of sand,and if you have the time to stir it up it shouldn't give you any problems. Ted
Click to expand...

Ted,
How shallow was your SSB? Did you stir the whole thing a few times a week, or just what you could see in the front of the tank?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6828813#post6828813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WILDTHING
. That said I have a LPS/softy tank with BB. I put my 2 Seio 1500's on the bottom blowing "stuff" up to the front by my overflow. What doesn't get to the overflow stays by the front and can be vacuumed out. My other seio 1500 I have at the back of the tank blowing toward the front of the tank. So far (about 6 mts) its doing well. HTH

colleen
Click to expand...

Do you have any clams in your tank? I have about 5 clams, and I know that they don't appreciate direct flow on them just wondering how you delt with that?
 
switched from sandbed to bb. Now im back to sandbed. Seems impossible to keep the nitrates at zero. Just tested nitrates 2 days ago and they where at 110ppm! OUCH. Sand for me.

If you can get the best skimmer, crazy flow and cook your rocks you should have no problems with a bare bottom. But for me with a becket skimmer, 5000 gph of flow in a 125 I could not keep up.
 
DSB vs no sand bed, vs SSB has been discussed to death. You can do a search on several forums here and hear all sorts of pros, cons of each. Try to go with the opinions of those who have successfully kept one or the other over a long period of time. DSBs need to have critters added to it from time to time. You can't just put one in and forget about it. Many people don't add new critters and eventually have problems.
 
Ian, I had about 1" of sand,and I would stir every inch I could get to. You can't under your rocks,and thats where you will get a build up ,so you need critters. I had a lot of cerith snails,a large cucumber,and a sand sifting star. Ted
 
Ian,I have to confess,I went BB. Right now it's working for me,but I need more flow. I just don't have the $$ for Tunze Streams. Ted
 
I hear you Ted, the Tunze Streams are amazing but man are the expensive. I was looking at the wavebox as maybe a viable option as well, but that still runs $500 plus tax.
 
I thought about the wave box also,but my LFS guy said not to use it with my tank,and he bulit the tank. It's only 1/2"Acrylic. He said if it was 3/4" the wave box would be an option. Ted
 
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