Which is most important to you and why???

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Some people believe that a deep sand bed is the way to go , while others believe that a great load of rock work is natures ultimate design , and last but not least , the guys who love the open sand bed with minimal rock work so that they have the open sand bed to display the eye catching corals ....... What is the best design in your opinion and what's your reason behind it???? .......all ideas and opinions welcome.

 

[Waleedwale1]

In my next tank I will have a shallow sandbed with minimal rock work. My current nano has a deep sand bed and 40 pounds of LR (29 gal tank) and I sorta regret it now. With shallow/bare bottom tanks cleaning is much easier, while with a deep sand bed and a ton of LR, detritus gets everywhere. I hate how my water clouds up for the whole day becuase I moved the rock around and kicked up my sand. Also hard to keep a lot of corals like plates and chalices since sand gets thrown on them constantly by the CUC and fish. The minimal rock diverts attention to corals, less rock equals more room for corals for me. It also simply looks better to me than a reef cluttered with rock piles.

 

[vio]

In most tanks is PO4, start how great is yours RO/DI , salt ( i like ESV) how much food add to the tank ( i do only ones a day), how to balance the low nutrition , how to got the right amount of bacteria (i run Biopellets now), what Carbon to dose for (Biopellets, Vodka ,Vinegar etc.) controlling the bacteria, some Macro Algae in sump , i think is good way to go, run Active Carbon ( i like 0.8 ROX from BRS) i go back on sand (Caribbean aragonite ,brown sugar size ) i love water change (list 10 % a week) than light, u need GOOD light, then Protein Skimmer ( have to be GOOD ) also water flow , have to be wide flow, lots of flow, the faster u remove the detritus , the better is, 200 micron sock filter help to remove the big detritus + clean water, ( i refer for most SPS tanks) list that what i do now, that my opinion.

 

[MIKE NY]

Over the years I've used those layouts as well as BB etc... and years ago the thinking was a DSB and as much LR you can fit for filtration, but over the years filtration equipment and the checmicals available for water quality have really improved and the need for all that sand and rock isn't necessary so it can be an aesthetic choice...

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Over the years I've used those layouts as well as BB etc... and years ago the thinking was a DSB and as much LR you can fit for filtration, but over the years filtration equipment and the checmicals available for water quality have really improved and the need for all that sand and rock isn't necessary so it can be an aesthetic choice...

This is very true , I remember as a kid my stepdad used canister filters , and then I remember bio balls and all the other things that have proven effective and not effective, I have a lot of rock for the comfort of my dwelling inhabitants .