Successful SPS tank sandbed users!

Mike de Leon

New member
Please post your experiences here and best practices on your success.
I am setting up a new tank and really would prefer a sandbed with my minimal planned aquascape.
Post a pic if you dare!

Thanks in advance!

 
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Unless you plan on working to keep it clean go with no more than 2".
This prevents anerobic conditions from forming & makes it easier for upkeep.
The only caveat is a wrasse that buries itself @ night can't be kept.
Never did learn to post pics.
 
yes. I do plan to try and keep it clean, which had been a PITA for me in the past. Even with a shallow bed. How did you keep yours clean?
Thanks for your response.
 
That looks like a stellar setup. i just imagine all the white on that sump dirty in six months! Seriously though, i am envious, very elegant.
 
I have a remote dsb.. I used to, like over a decade ago, put dsbs in all my displays but there are always areas that go completely anoxic, in time..
I guess if you will have minimal rock work, it should be fine..
However, having said this, you should check out the Matrix/siporax thread..
Using one of those medias, you could have all the capabilities of a sand bed without the sanded....
And like you said, keeping it clean can be a pain..
fwiw.. i always kept burrowing wrasses with my dsb tanks...
 
I have about an inch sand bed. Blow it around once a week and let the filter socks pick it up. Have a melanarus and leopard wrasse that are doing happily.
 
Biggest problem in the tank is the sand bed. Yet bare bottom is just ugly to me. Price you pay i guess.
 
That looks like a stellar setup. i just imagine all the white on that sump dirty in six months! Seriously though, i am envious, very elegant.

Thank you.

I have a remote dsb.. I used to, like over a decade ago, put dsbs in all my displays but there are always areas that go completely anoxic, in time..
I guess if you will have minimal rock work, it should be fine..
However, having said this, you should check out the Matrix/siporax thread..
Using one of those medias, you could have all the capabilities of a sand bed without the sanded....
And like you said, keeping it clean can be a pain..
fwiw.. i always kept burrowing wrasses with my dsb tanks...

Thanks. I am not using the sand for bacteria but more for appearance. I plan on having Siporax in the sump.

I have about an inch sand bed. Blow it around once a week and let the filter socks pick it up. Have a melanarus and leopard wrasse that are doing happily.

The wrasses are ok with only 1" ??

Biggest problem in the tank is the sand bed. Yet bare bottom is just ugly to me. Price you pay i guess.

Yeah, that's my struggle. I have tried BB before. Just really takes it away from the look... Thanks
 
Many of us with SPS dominated tanks use sandbeds, and don't clean them - ever. Granted, there's always some disturbance from a fish like a wrasse or moving some rocks around, so there's some export of detritus.

But detritus under the strict definition of the word doesn't contain any pollutants that cause issues in tanks. By the time it actually makes it to "detritus", all available phosphorus and labile organic carbon has been consumed.

Make your own decision, but there's no harm in keeping a 2-3" sandbed in an SPS tank. If you want proof of this, see Sanjay Joshi's tank here, and Richard Ross' tank here. In my own case, I have a 20g nano set up in 2004. The coral population is largely acropora, montipora and small-polyp turbinaria, though there are a few LPS and softies thrown in there as well. It has an approximately 3" sandbed, and there has been no systematic maintenance of it since the tank was setup. And yeah, it grows SPS like mad, to the point where the colonies need to be heavily pruned once every couple of months to prevent flow restrictions and shading.
 
I have wrasses in bare bottom tanks, they don't NEED to have sand. At least the few kinds I have dont. I have leopard, fairy's and some I am not sure about off the top of my head.

I would go with 1" of something with a good color and large grain to avoid sandstorms. Mine always ended up moving and having a glass section showing. So all my tanks are barebottom now.
 
I misunderstood.. I thought you wanted a dsb in the display..
If your going to have a cm or so, or like a half inch of sand with real biological happening with the matrix, why not do a sand cover... It looks more natural, imo..
I personally don't really believe that that much sand impacts nutrients a lot and anyways, if it bumps them up a touch, your corals would probably thank you for having measurable n and p...
 
Is that where the tank is going to go?. If so do your worry about in the winter firing up the stove. Looks like it would be blowing right on tank
 
Many of us with SPS dominated tanks use sandbeds, and don't clean them - ever. Granted, there's always some disturbance from a fish like a wrasse or moving some rocks around, so there's some export of detritus.

But detritus under the strict definition of the word doesn't contain any pollutants that cause issues in tanks. By the time it actually makes it to "detritus", all available phosphorus and labile organic carbon has been consumed.


Make your own decision, but there's no harm in keeping a 2-3" sandbed in an SPS tank. If you want proof of this, see Sanjay Joshi's tank here, and Richard Ross' tank here. In my own case, I have a 20g nano set up in 2004. The coral population is largely acropora, montipora and small-polyp turbinaria, though there are a few LPS and softies thrown in there as well. It has an approximately 3" sandbed, and there has been no systematic maintenance of it since the tank was setup. And yeah, it grows SPS like mad, to the point where the colonies need to be heavily pruned once every couple of months to prevent flow restrictions and shading.

I have wrasses in bare bottom tanks, they don't NEED to have sand. At least the few kinds I have dont. I have leopard, fairy's and some I am not sure about off the top of my head.

I would go with 1" of something with a good color and large grain to avoid sandstorms. Mine always ended up moving and having a glass section showing. So all my tanks are barebottom now.

I misunderstood.. I thought you wanted a dsb in the display..
If your going to have a cm or so, or like a half inch of sand with real biological happening with the matrix, why not do a sand cover... It looks more natural, imo..
I personally don't really believe that that much sand impacts nutrients a lot and anyways, if it bumps them up a touch, your corals would probably thank you for having measurable n and p...

Is that where the tank is going to go?. If so do your worry about in the winter firing up the stove. Looks like it would be blowing right on tank

I was only really thinking ssb purely for aesthetics. So maintenance will be key as well. Need to keep it clean for it to look good. If i can limit the detritus in the sump it will help with how the tank will look.

Does this the typical bagged sand leach any phosphates? I like the idea of large grain sand. What would be a good brand to purchase?

The tank will be move a couple of feet to the right closer to the wall.

Thanks all. Love to see some pics of tanks with clean sand :O).
 

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