[dirtyreefer]

I did the faux sandbed like Chin mentioned on my new tank. I used Envirotex Lite (you can do a search for it, then check out the Canadian retailers that carry it) and glued the sand to starboard so that it could be removed if I didn't like it.

What I found when setting up my new tank is that I got a bit of an algae bloom (until the skimmer kicks in and skims out all the other crap in your tank). Since the sand is hard, the algae and coraline and everything else sticks to it so it's a b#*ch cleaning it. I found that it looked dirty all the time (with the stained green, brown and coraline algae colors), even after I scrubbed it with a course brush. Let's just say now I've buried it with a SSB and won't go back.

Basically I've tried barebottom (on my old tank, hated the look of it), faux sandbed (didn't like the dirty look), and SSB. I've never done DSB nor will I ever try it. I think I'll always be a SSB lover since every water change I siphon out as much sand as I can and replace it with new (or washed) sand to keep it clean. Never had any problems this way, but YMMV.

Maintenance wise, BB or faux sandbed is the easiest to keep clean. I just can't stand the look of BB IME. Some people can make theirs look good, but I can't. I am more for looks so I'll spend a bit of extra time replacing and siphoning sand to make my tank look as natural as possible.