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

[Marcus K]

I like fine crushed coral the best, little larger grain size over sand. Seems to have a brighter white colour and stays in place better than sand. But you have to vacuum every water change.

[AndyL]

So many different methods... All the methods have various benefits and downfalls.

Personally, I really dislike the look of barebottom. However I use all 3 methods. My frag tank is bare bottom with lots of macros, My seahorse tank has a 2" sandbed (lots of macros there too). My FOWLR has a ~1sq foot fuge with a 8" DSB in the sump.

For me basically, I believe we strive to keep a ecosystem, anything less than a full system is incomplete. So much life exists in/around the sandbeds on the reef, that I can't see leaving it out.