Favourite Bottom
 

What is your favourite tank bottom?

I prefer a shallow bed of mixed coral rock and sand to accommodate multiple species of fish and inverts.
I currently have a 1 inch deep mixed bed of coral rock and course sand that literally changes shape and size daily to the gobies, pistol shrimp, sand sifting snails, sea cucumbers and power heads. I rarely have any buildup of bad stuff due to the bottom being moved so much.

Not the kind of bottoms I was thinking when I clicked on the topic.... mildly disappointed ;)

i was thinking the same thing

bare bottom with a white vinyl wrapped bottom panel for me

I did that last time for more light reflecting back up to grow the underside of my heavily stocked sps corals but instead it just gave me a thick coralline algae bottom. I went with black vinyl bare bottom and it has been awesome.

IMO, if you want a sps dominant tank for ease of maintenance, I would go bare bottom or else just an inch thin bottom is much more aesthetically pleasing.

IMO, if you want a sps dominant tank for ease of maintenance, I would go bare bottom or else just an inch thin bottom is much more aesthetically pleasing.
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Does that mean no wrasses?

I have a clear glass bowl with sand for wrasses. Easy

Would having a bare-bottom be advantageous, as far as water changes go? Of course, you still do water changes, but, with no substrate to bury excess food and waste, it seems like water changes would be quick and painless?

Or would having a light substrate, like Dearth, and some good bottom feeders, and cleaners be a better way to go?

Any thoughts and/or advice would be great!

Thanks all, take care, and be safe!!

K

Bare bottom or shallow sand bed, either way needs vacuuming. I had bare bottom for a couple years, it was easy to maintain but detritus still piles up under the rocks, and it can get hard to get at everything once the corals grow over. I like the look of sand, but I don't want to vacuum poo, so I'm going to try a deep sand bed and see how that goes.

I was thinking that a deeper bed would hold more poop, and bad stuff, making a shallow bed, or bare bottom easier to maintain. I can totally be wrong,that's just what I thought/assumed. You may very well be right. :)

Sand beds 4 inches or deeper are not cleaned, in fact cleaning them is very bad as it disrupts the bacteria and you get toxins released into your water. With the deep sand beds you get hypoxic and anoxic regions at the bottom that grow bacteria which denitrify and get rid of SO4. Whys Alives does a good job of explaining it here

Here is an experimental study that compares deep and shallow sand beds with either fine or coarse sand. An interesting read to see what meets your needs. Bare in mind that the experiment was only run for a few months, not the years that our tanks run for.
sand bed experiment