sand or bare glass bottom?

[Trigs]

Tell you the truth I like both! But I love the sand look makes it look really clean plus a little easier to clean I find =)

[AJ_77]

I would have agreed with you until recently - I cleaned the sandbed out of the tank I just got (1-2 inches' worth of aragonite). It was aboot 18 months old, and the filth that came out of that nearly made me puke. The tank was well-maintained and filtered, B-King skimmer etc... what I would consider "clean," but that nasty skunky leftover toxic mud made me think twice. Just too gross to contemplate.

I think it was a wise moderator here who once said, "how can all that trapped black goo be good for my system?"

Thinking of going BB next time (and I usually love all those little critters that inhabit the sand, add to biodiversity and filtration capacity, etc etc...)

[mark]

I'm BB.

When originally setup my 145g plan was would always add sand later. After bottom started getting covered in coralline ended up don't mind the look and left as is.

Don't think it's necessary for filtration as I'm zero nitrates and no sand in system but there's always the option of a RDSB or sand in the sump. Adding Ca etc, probably doesn't contribute a whole lot specially with the system pH (why Ca reactors add CO2 to dissolve media) and I ran a 75G for years with a DSB and though added some sand over time, wasn't much overall.

Believe the pro/cons for a sand bed is just aesthetics and what you can keep. Love the idea of the shrimp/gobie pair but without sand I'll live without. Also will admit when I see a nice tank with a clean SB think of adding sand to mine, but the urge passes fairly quickly.

Remember there's no reason you can't add a SSB or a DSB later to a established tank if don't like the BB. Better anyway if the LR was placed direct on the glass rather then on the sand where it could settle.

[kodak]

Thank you for the info.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Big fan of BB here. Will never ever ever have a sandbed, for the same reason mentioned above (dismantled well-maintained tank and it was foul). Besides, I tend to go for the more modern aesthetic, which fits nicely with BB.

[kodak]

I may just stick to a BB Thanks for all the helpfull info..

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by AJ_77

I think it was a wise moderator here who once said, "how can all that trapped black goo be good for my system?"

No, I think I said that.

I went BB on my last tank and loved it, then my new tank I waffled and added sand. After 8 months, I've removed it with all the black goo. It was disgusting!

[superduperwesman]

+1 for Sand

[Borderjumper]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

No, I think I said that.

I went BB on my last tank and loved it, then my new tank I waffled and added sand. After 8 months, I've removed it with all the black goo. It was disgusting!

[Trigger Man]

I like BB for ease of cleaning, sand always looks good when clean, but after hearing about the black goo even in well maintained sand tanks I'm happy with my choice.