[globaldesigns]

Personally, I ran a DSB in my refuge, and in my opinion it became more of a nitrate factory than anything else. You should of seen it when I removed it, it was nasty.

In my DT, I have about 1.5-2 inches of nice fine sand... Over the years there are now some shells, from snails and little clams that die or get eating, but I like the fine araganite. Personally I don't like bare bottom, as most I see have algae on the bottom, and I just don't think they look natural. However BB has its benefits... Mainly they won't be adding anything bad like phosphate or nitrates to the system.

Recently (6 months or so ago) I started vacumming my sand everyweek. Really you shouldn't as live sand is beneficial. But in my case with the SPS issues I have been having, it was another thing to try. I can say, even with the vacummning, the worms, etc. are still in abundance in the sand, and my tank overall is doing really well. SPS is coloring up nicely and actually starting to grow. This is good.

I hope the above helps, I guess BB or sand bed is a preference. If you go with sand bottom, don't do DSB, based on my experience.