Reef nutrition

Sand Bed vs. Barebottom

For sand bed
Marvel about how pretty it looks, and then after a few months of algae growth and having to pull crap off the top, I remove it

For bare bottom
When coraline grows on it, shrug and not care
When detritus settles, it usually settles in dead spots, get a siphon hose, and attach the other end to a filter sock in my sump, suck up the detritus, empty the sock, clean the sock, wait for the next siphon to be done. If I'm doing a water change, I don't bother going through the filter sock.

Oh and just a FYI, you could have simply started one thread on the matter, rather than replying to 9 others with the same question ;)
 
While bare bottom tanks are easier to clean Ive always liked the look of the sand bed. Really not very hard to keep clean , good clean up crew always does the trick. Lightly skim the surface of the sand to suck up any algea
 
Hello SunshineBear,

Please do not post the same question in multiple threads. If you want to ask your question, making one thread will be sufficient.

Everyone will be able to see your post and help to answer your questions.

Thanks,
Enderturtle
 
I have a barebottom

You can always get things to grow over a bare bottom. It's not fast nor easy, but it can be done.

You have a few options if you don't want live sand:

- starboard, which many people do, in order to help get things to attach to it. The downside is that you'll get stuff that accumulates underneath it. The upside is that it'll protect the bottom and will reflect light.
- You can also put small islands of live rock, and whatever coral to grow on that, then onto the glass.
- You can make a permanant sandbed, by mixing it with epoxy and covering the bottom. There are a few tutorials on reefcentral that show how people are doing this.
 
I don't like the look of Bare Bottom. I like sand, 2.0 - 3.5 mm grain size or so of crushed aragonite. Just enough for a Pistol shrimp + goby combo which I will have in every single tank above 10 gallons I own.

Creatures that live in/around the sandbed are just too interesting to me. I usually end up around 2 inches deep, and I clean it out with a siphon during each water change.
 
I switched to bare bottom recently, and love how much simpler it is.
Bare bottom does not look that great, but looks better than a poorly maintained sand bed.
Doing it over, I would put in a permanent fake sand-bed. For texture, even though it gets coraline covered.
 
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