Sandbed or no sandbed, that is the question...

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

Talking to Bev about her BB, it is much harder to stack live rock because you can use the sand to level the piece of rock how you want it.

I wouldn't exactly say it is "harder" to stack LR on a BB tank. I would say that if a rock on the base has one or two ways it will stand on the BB, those are your only two options and you have to work around these limitations. However, with a sandbed, you can partially push your lowest rocks into the sand to a certain degree and have the sand support those rocks so they can be at slightly different angles than just the one or two offered with the BB.

That said, once a rock is placed on the BB, it does not move around unless you move it. Also, it seems to be much easier, at least with the rock I have, to creatively aquascape a large tank than it is to aquascape a smaller one. Of course, my smallest tank is 24'x18'x24" high and with the limitations of the rock I have for that tank, it takes as long to aquascape as my 48"x24"x24" high.

I'm also at a saturation point with coralline on the bottom of one of my tanks, and each time I siphon out the crud, I am also loosening and siphoning out a bit of coralline, too.

Whether you do a faux bottom or just go BB, make sure to leave spaces between your rock stacks and tank walls for basting the crud out from under your rock, where most of your tank's crud will accumulate.