Your opinions regarding bare bottom vs shallow sand bed vs deep sand bed

[b_james]

I personally like the natural looks of a sand bed oppose to a BB tank.

Do you guys vacuum your sand? I dont think I have ever done that.. I just ocasionaly stir up the gravel and mechanically filter it out through the sump. Besides, my corals seem to like it

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Tried going bb but didn't like the look for my reef tank & the brain coral was getting damaged from rubbing against glass (flow is fairly high in the tank but directed well above the brain). Now everything & everyone is much happier with a thin layer of sand. I got a sand-sifting sea hare (I call it a sea mouse) which is dark grey-brown with tiny green spots to keep the sandbed clean.

Anthony

[Chad]

My personal opinion is if you are going to put sand in, be prepared to vaccum it. I don't think we can possibly get enough bio - diversity to break down every critters waste. So, it still builds up regardless. It just takes longer to build up with a sand bed with critters.

I have a two palm sized brain in my BB tank and have not noticed any damage to it.

[marie]

When I broke down my 75g tank, I fully expected the sandbed to be nasty it had been going for 3 1/2 yrs. To my surprise, once I got below the surface detritus (from removing the rock) the sand was white and full of worms and not very stinky, it just smelled like the ocean.

I wished now that I kept it but it was too late to put in the bowfront and I didn't think I could keep it alive long enough for someone to buy it so out it went for the racoons to play in

[Chin_Lee]

Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have!

OMG Marie thats funny.

[aquanot]

I haven't had to vacuum my tank's crushed coral 2.5" base in a year since I got a black cucumber . Ugly but effective.

[untamed]

I love that analogy, Chin_Lee! Think bigger...isn't the earth just a great big closed system?

On topic: I like the shallow sand bed. It's well inhabited by critters, but I do vacuum it in spots from time to time.