Well...this is one discussion I can't stay away from.
For those people planning to have just a thin layer of sand rather than a thick sand bed...you will get the same problem. Meaning that the ugly red coloring on the sand, and it looking ugly will still happen.
Currently my sandbed is thin, only a half inch, and I still have had the problems mentioned here. I was about to go to a thick sandbed...but now an re-thinking the idea.
-I guess without a sandbed there are certain animals you can't keep...ie cucumbers, brittle stars (although mine stays on the LR, so maybe you coud keep one). For the people having a clear glass bottom, are there any animals you haven't been able to keep (that you wanted to keep)
-If a livesand bed was crawling with animal life, then wouldn't it accomplish its goal of converting harmful substance to less harmful? But I guess it would be like using a canister filter...the less harmful substance would still be in the water, not removed.
-Well, that's all my thought/questions for now. I guess I'll be like a lot of us now and re-thinking the usefulness of sandbeds
Michael