Sand or bare bottom?

[brittanyk]

I am just in the process of downsizing. Ive gone from a 90 gal to a 50. I prefer the size and plan to keep the tank pretty simple. Ive had a reef tank for 15 years, and worked at a few LFS when I was younger, BUT I need some outside advice!

I have a pair of black ice clowns that will go in it, I plan on having some coral - zoas, lps... perhaps one day sps. I would love a jawfish one day, as its my fave fish.. BUT that means sand... so I am a bit lost lol.

I am in a toss up between keeping it bare bottom, or adding sand. Ive always had sand, but now I am not sure. I prefer the idea of having it as clean as possible.... but what am I losing?

Bare bottom - tell me your thoughts ...
sand bed - tell me your thoughts, if and how often do you clean it?

[Ryanerickson]

My new tank is bare bottom first time I have gone this route but I'm pretty happy easy to clean no sand to make a mess.you could always try it and if you don't like add it later.

[Moogled]

I had a barebottom 33 gallon when I first started.

Now I keep a 1" bed in my pico 5g and I much prefer the look.

Only thing is that I really don't like vacuuming sand lol.

[tang daddy]

If you're keeping a jawfish you could put a square container for the fish to live in, I really like the BB look with the acception of covering the glass with a black or white piece of abs or acrylic incase a rock decides to fall one day.

I think we all agree on the pros for barebottom is easy detritous and waste removal. Esthetically it doesn't look as real as sand or rubble but easier to maintain. I do 5g WC every 3 days and remove a ton of detritous that would otherwise be sitting in the sand. No frags get buried, no sand storms, easy to clean and maintain. About 10 mins every 3 days is good for me. Mind you I feed 5x a day so gotta keep it clean.

[e46er]

i tried it a few years back in my 120
its better in every aspect except aesthetics, which after probably 3-4 months i put in a couple bags of white sand because I couldn't get past the look.
my current tank has black sand which I really like. not sure if I actually like it better than the white sand but after 10 Years of white sand its a nice change.

Id say start without it and its easy to add later if you don't like it.

[shrimp]

If you go with sand, you will never be able to keep snails alive for long.