I think that altho sand looks asthetically more pleasing , a barebottom tank is easier to maintain. I have had tanks with sand and without. If I use sand in my reef now , I just use enuf to cover the bottom so as not to "trap any crap". The last frag tank that I set up was with a barebottom and eggcrate for the frags.
You could always go with a barebottom and if it gets too boring for ya , add some sand later on. In a frag tank ,if there are no fish, there shouldn't be too much crap to worry about.
58 gal Reeftank
10 gal nano reef
Started my first reeftank in 89'
William
Bootom bare for a frag tank so you won't have to worry your sand having hair algea spots. Then you would have to take out your frags then clean the tank and put the frags back again.
Bare bottom is the way to go. My PH are under the eggcrate. Nothing stays on the bottom of my frag tang and every debris floats into the overflow. A mag 18 feeds my frag tank so I get a lot of flow from the return.
The amount of water you overturn is the key to frag tank. Do not confuse overturn with flow. I mean how fast the water is fed to the skimmer and the cleaner water is returned to the frag tank.
Bare bottom for the frag tank, I went bare bottom on my main tank and I hate it, but if I had a frag tank, I would definitely go bare bottom because it will be easier to clean. Are you gonna put live rock in the sump?
Well I got a bubble magus 3.5 skimmer. A mag 7 w/ ball valve to adjust flow. I got live rock to add to my sump. Just enuff to fit my skimmer Here's a **** right now of the fill up. I used 15 g from my main tank water and the rest red sea coral pro salt fresh