To go bare bottom or not?

[Jedbreitsch]

Well i ordered my tank its ~40 gallons and i want it to be clean with 3 or 4 fish in the tank and have it mostly coral based with LPS corals and some SPS and maybe others as well.. but anyways the tank is a rimless 12" high tank, i love the look of the shallow tank.. but here is my problem, i ordered a ecotech mp10 online and i dont know if i want to have sand or have it barebottom, i know the ecotech pumps generate undertow and i dont want my sand flying up in the water column and im scared the tank is to shallow, so should i go bare bottom or not get fine sand and have a larger grain sand.. any help would be great. thanks!

 

[EllieSuz]

Since it's relatively easy to add sand at a later date, I suggest you start out BB and see if you like it. I've seen a lot of threads that recommend adding rock before sand anyway to get a firm base for the rock, so you have nothing to lose really.

 

[Jedbreitsch]

yeah thats true, i would probablly just add the sand in the middle of cycling the tank because i wouldnt want to get the sandstorm when i have a fish or coral in the tank

and im asking also if anyone has any expeirence with sand and a vortech in the frag tanks since they seem to be around the 12" mark like my tank

 

[Tonynlo]

I prefer the aesthetics of sand so my opinion wil be somewhat biased. I've learned to deal with the sand blowing around. I use 2 mp40 on a 48" tank and I've never had an issue with it blowing around in my column, instead it just moves back and fourth on the bottom of my tank. After while though, the sand settles and will generally hold pretty well. Another thing to think about would be your fuge light. Is it beneath your tank? Will the light be shining through the bottom glass? Will that bother you?

 

[EllieSuz]

You won't get a sandstorm if you direct wet sand through a funnel to the areas at the bottom of the tank where you want it. I used one of those long necked funnels you get in the automotive department of a place like Walmart, with a short length of hose attached to it. The sand goes right to the bottom, no cloudy water at all, if it's been washed sufficiently.

 

[Tonynlo]

You won't get a sandstorm if you direct wet sand through a funnel to the areas at the bottom of the tank where you want it. I used one of those long necked funnels you get in the automotive department of a place like Walmart, with a short length of hose attached to it. The sand goes right to the bottom, no cloudy water at all, if it's been washed sufficiently.

+1 to this.

When you are done, you have a beer funnel.

 

[Jedbreitsch]

nice beer funnel!!! haha but my tank is going to be an AIO system with the sump inside the tank so im hoping i wont need a fuge light and just grow cheato and some live rock in a compartment in the "sump" with my overall lighting being hung 5-10 inches about water level.. and i think im just going to go with a bigger grain size sand like 1.0-2.0mm size does that sound about right?