Live Sand or Bare Bottom?

[1UCKY]

it mainly is determined from your goal. do you want to have fishies? alot of fish would rather have a sandbed. if your main goal is sps (flow) then you would go barebottom
i personally love the live sand. it really completes the tank

I will only keep about 5 or 6 small fish. I plan on keeping SPS in the tank so that's why I will be leaning towards bare bottom (more flow).

 

[ShaunW]

Everybody keeps mentioning that BB tanks don't look natural and sand looks better. I like the look of a sandbed, BUT you can keep a good looking BB tank. It just takes time. Early on a BB tank does look sterile IMO, but given time and coral placement many LPS, soft corals, zoos, chalices, monti caps, etc, can cover the starboard. In my 120g you can't see the BB anymore it is covered with corals.

This full tank shot was 5 months ago.

 

[EmilyT]

ahha! a zoa carpet! genius!:Hydrogen:

 

[kimoyo]

Hey Shaun,

do you like a remote dsb over a fuge? Or do you have both? Calfo's idea was to have the remote dsb unlit but that wouldn't work well if you try to put cheato in there also. Thanks.

 

[ShaunW]

ahha! a zoa carpet! genius!:Hydrogen:

It is also an Acan/xenia/chalice/blasto carpet, :spin: .

 

[kimoyo]

any sand recommendations for a display or remote dsb? I was looking at the caribsea arag-alive special reef grade.

 

[ShaunW]

Hey Shaun,

do you like a remote dsb over a fuge? Or do you have both?

Paul, I have both. Initially I didn't have a remote DSB and then decided to tie it into the system. It seems to have stabilized things. It has been tied in for about a year now maybe more.

Calfo's idea was to have the remote dsb unlit but that wouldn't work well if you try to put cheato in there also. Thanks.

I have a 30g AGA tank that acts as a sump. I have a 5 inch DSB there and using 2 VHO lights I grow macroalgae and sometimes frags. I have it on a reverse light cycle from the main tank and it gets about 6hrs of light a day.

 

[ShaunW]

any sand recommendations for a display or remote dsb? I was looking at the caribsea arag-alive special reef grade.

I look for grain size. What I do since it makes sense to me, is to create a striated sandbed using different sized grains from the bottom up. The very bottom is crushed coral, then calcium reactor media, then fine sand. Having the increased surface area in the deeper reaches of the DSB will allow more anaerobic bacteria to reside and subsequently more denitrification to occur.

This approach is similar to the old pleneum (sp?) theory, but without the pleneum.

 

[kimoyo]

Wouldn't finer sand at the bottom give you the more total surface area. Or are you saying surface area on each granule?

Is the reactor media for buffing purposes?

 

[ShaunW]

Wouldn't finer sand at the bottom give you the more total surface area. Or are you saying surface area on each granule?

Surface area on each granule and between each granule.

Is the reactor media for buffing purposes?

Yes, and it is a medium sized grain between the sand and crushed coral, in general.

 

[kimoyo]

Thanks! That's good info.