what substrate for 420 gal sps tank

[diemaker]

Hi guys I'm trying to decide on what substrate to use for new 420 gallon build. The tank will be mostly SPS and have 4 mp60'2 2 on each end and 4 mp40's on the back wall. I thought about using Flordia crush coral

My other thought was to go bare bottom possibly putting starboard on the bottom.

I'm having a hard time finding large bare bottom tank pics or threads if anyone could point me to some that would be great.

tank dim are 30"x30"x9 feet

 

[kinggeorge818]

Sounds interesting, I like the look of sand unless the bare bottom is mature with coral growth on the bottom...in which case both are beautiful


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[diemaker]

Sounds interesting, I like the look of sand unless the bare bottom is mature with coral growth on the bottom...in which case both are beautiful


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do you mind posting a few pics of your tank?

 

[kinggeorge818]

This is a pic of my 675 gallon glass display tank with sand bottom


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[nightOwl]

In my current tank I am using CaribSea Aragonite Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand and it stays put for the most part. I have found with the MP60's that it tends to want to shift but if I place some rubble on in the sand that will keep it from making huge piles in one place.

 

[Ostentum]

Mine is currently cycling but tank dims are 96x30x28 and is going to be barebottom. I will never use sand again in an sps tank. Just wait till you lose a highend piece because sand covers it up you will probably feel the same. Also i feel that I can now throw as much flow as possible through the tank and dont have to worry about sand flying everywhere. The courser grain sand that can handle the high flow are detritus traps imho.

 

[diemaker]

my last tank was a BB and I hated the look of the coralline on the Botton glass I'm really up in the air with all of this

 

[tom obrecht]

Take a look at videos of World Wide Coral’s 900 gallon reef. They are viewable thru various sites. I have seen this display personally and must say it’s “all there”! They run BB but have planted various zoo frags to help cover the bottom panel. In time the bottom with transform into a garden of color. I do run BB myself although in the early years of reef I always had sand. With nutrients always being an issue and sand bed maintenance I finally switched over. I think there are benefits both ways but from my view if you plan on doing all spa and want high flow with multiple MP60’s I think BB may be a good option.