How deep is your Sand Bed? Poll
 

I was rearranging my tank the other day when I noticed my sandbed isn't as deep as some fellow reefers. It seems healthy but I'm curious as to what the average depth might be? :question:

I voted 2-3 because thats about how deep im going in the new tank. :biggrin:

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Do you feel its needed or is it just for esthetics?

I don't feel its needed and many people have successfully thriving reefs without a sandbed.
For me its mainly for looks. I like the nice white sandy bottom... :mrgreen:

I remember a while back on RC that the concensus was to either go all out with a 5"+ sandbed or to skip it as the benefits encountered anywhere below there is no different then what you'd get from a thin spread of sand (oxygen was able to penetrate too deep into the bed).

There have been numerous monster threads on RC on this in the past. I don't think there's enough good science to really say what works and what doesn't. Maybe that has changed now though.

I keep about a 1" sandbed just for esthetics. I tried bare bottom in my 20gal but I just couldn't stand the sterile look. I like the natural look of sand.

To have sand or not to have sand?

IMO, I think its horrible for the creatures if you don’t have sand. First we take them away from the ocean, stick them in a glass box and now we take them away their sand too? :frown:

Lots of gobies, inverts and other fish love to search the sand for goodies. I couldn't take that away from them. My mandarin goby, yellow headed goby were so sad in a bottomless tank and my puffer was so scared in the reflective glass bottomless tank. IMO, I think its horrible to take away their sand just cause we think it looks better (cleaner).

IMO, I think we forget where most of these creatures come from....the ocean! They are wild caught and held captive as we play gods. The least we could do is put our selfish feelings (esthetics) a side and simulate (ocean) their known environment the best we can. Isn't that what’s its all about? Having a piece of ocean in our homes? :neutral:

I have a minimum 0f 6" probably near 10" in spots. No problems. It has been running for 3 1/2 years. That is with out a skimmer.

where is the 0, I have 1/2 an inch now and am going to 0 around christmas time.

as for the DSB hype even Dr. Shmek is now saying that we cannot creat a properly operating sand bed in the averag home aquarium.

Steve

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I had more options including bare bottom on the poll but when I posted it excluded a couple of them. :confused:

Its interesting to see everone's opinion on sand beds as far as being an
esthetic or functional part of our aquariums. I can't remember which magazine I read this in and my numbers might be slightly off but 75% to 80% of anoxic denitrification occure within the top 3/4 of and inch of the sand bed. I guess I'll be satisfied with my 1.5 to 2 inches.

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and for a properly loaded tank that is not overstocked the Live rock and skimming will handle all your de-nitrification needs.

for what it is worth I was one who jumped on the DSB bandwagon as it was all the rage when I was starting up. I started with 6 to 8" depth then about 1 year later I started having algae problems and other problems that I couldn't explain. I moved and removed all the sand except for 1/2 an inch and the problems went away. now the only reason I want to go totally bare bottom is so I can increase the flow in the tank through out the whole tank to aid in detritus removal.

Steve

I agree, where is the 0 option? I have quite a bit of flow going through my tank, and quite a bit of it is directed towards the bottom of the tank... I can't imagine what kind of mess I would have if I had a sandbed.

-Richer

"O"

and my fat 3yr. old mandarin is just fine. :biggrin:

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Sorry guys.

1.5" - 2". Makes my yellow watchman happy :biggrin: & I get more biodiversity.

If you have Gobys in your sand bed I hate to say but chances are you have no bio diversity at all. :mrgreen:

Steve

At least, not where they're digging.

I had two for a while and they dug in one area and filtered for food in the rest of the tank. nedless to say the sand bed was clean :rolleyes: :mrgreen:

Steve

Well mine must not have read your posts because it mostly eats the frz. mysis, b.s., and blood worms. When I look in the tank after the main lights are out, I can see literally 100s of live mysis, copepods & arthopods crawling around. I seeded the tank with OA's live sand & there's lots of LR & different macroalgae for the "bugs" to hide in. So as long as he doesn't sneak on my computer at night and check out your posts, he'll stay fat & happy & I'll keep my biodiversity :lol: :biggrin: Let's here it for illiterate fish :exclaim: :razz:

exactly, the live rock is what the bugs are in. as far as sand is concerned you can't see the "microscopic" bugs in it that the gobys, or other "sand stars, ect." eat. doesent matter much anyways as a captive DSB has a very very small amount of life in terms of both density and verity when compared to a natural sand bed. but it is the microscopic stuff that the sand sifting fish/invertabrae are going after when they are eating. Of course they are going to eat mysis as thats a treat. :mrgreen: mine used to gorge them selves on mysis and then in a couple hours they were right back to sifting sand.

Steve

I couldn't agree with you more... and that is why I went barebottom. I don't want to start a debate as to which is better because it is obviously a personal choice; however, I do want to clarify my reasons for doing what I do. I personally like the look of sand better - everyone does. However, I realized that the sand in my 20gal tank does not really function like a "mini ocean floor".
When people say that BB is cleaner they don't mean Cleaner: Astetically less cluttered.
They mean Cleaner: Less place for phosphates, nitrates, and crapates to build up.
I think you raised a really good point too. If someone goes BB they need to select inhaditants that do not depend on the sandbed for food, or shelter etc. I've had awsome success with rbta (lives in rock crevice), scotts damsel (lives in water column) and brittle star (didn't sift sand even when I had aragonite).

- Chad

My goby avoided one side of my tank nearly entirely. Hence, I expect there was more sandbed diversity in that area.