I have a shallow sand bed and I like it. My tank is 4yrs (in Sept) no nitrates or amn, my readings are very stable. I like the look opposed to bare bottoms which I find very artificial looking and not very pleasing to the eye.(which IMO is one of the top reasons for a tank) I have zoos etc that sit on the s.b. and I can't even image how terrible they'd look sitting on a b.b.
I do water changes on average every 2weeks, I've missed them for various reasons and only got around to doing once a month (x-max for example) and no problems what so ever.
I've read about bare bottoms and they are supposed to be higher maintenance. You still get the filtration help from a s.s.b.
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