Shallow Sandbed or No Sandbed

[LostMind]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=1

[digital canuck]

My tank that is
http://www.activepartners.com/regina...=500&ppuser=22 Here are a couple of shots of my new 180 with the white HDPE on the bottom. The tank was set up on June 19, livestock and liverock moved from an existing 115 gal I had.

Yes the back is unsightly with all the powerheads, but with time will come a sump and returns

Rick

[Delphinus]

Maybe I'm singular in this opinion, but all of these starboard tanks have a "rocks placed on a cutting board" look to me that I just can't get used to. I'm sorry but there's just nothing natural looking about it! I understand the reasons and blah blah blah that's great and all, but all I see is just rock placed on a cutting board. I concede that the pics are of new setups before there is coralline or whatever, maybe I need to see some more aged setups, but there's something about the edge definition that doesn't seem right to me. Whenever I see an ocean or a reef or whatever, the rock doesn't "end" at the sand, it continues underneath it. If one could somehow address that issue I think it would look better. I'm also guessing that dragonets, wrasses, gobies, and other animals that burrow or bury themselves in sand, will be out of place in setups like this. Oh and forget about jawfish!

More power to you guys trying this, but, I think I'm staying with my sand bed.

[Bob I]

I am going to have to agree with Tony on this. No matter what small problems a sandbed may have I like them far more than that ugly looking Starboard (at least any pictures I have seen are ugly IMHO) I can't stand the unnatural, sterile look of the stuff.

[AJ_77]

Maybe I'm singular in this opinion...

Nope - I agree with you Tony, and also with Beverly when she says "I think some sand makes the tank look nicer too " and "Looks are definitely part of the appeal of a reef tank."

You would have to saw flat bottoms on your rocks to get them to look anywhere near natural, sitting on that stuff. Hmmm...

[digital canuck]

I would agree that the look of sand is more natural and better looking, but having just cleaned out my 115 after moving the fish and rock to the 180, I was grossed out at how much like a sewer the gravel was.

So I guess I'm giving the cleanliness (cleaner environment - less waste accumulation) aspect a higher priority over the asthetics. That's the nice thing about this hobby, there are more than one ways of accomplishing our goals of maintaining marine fish.

Rick

[LostMind]

I can't wait to try a BB tank. Or the starboard actually.

At first I thought it looked wrong... but now I am kinda liking it. Its a strange contrast. I plan to let the bottom become overgrown with zoa's and rics to make it appear a bit more natural.

But, honestly I am starting to like the clean, almost sterile look. It's funky somehow.

I am currently at the max for flow in my 120g. I have 2 x velocity T4 pumps for returns and two tunze 6100's on a controller running at 30% and 60% pulse, any higher then that and I have a sandstorm everywhere... I had to remove my 2 maxijet 1200's cuz they just added a little too much flow and the sand bed would not calm down.

[Delphinus]

Your reasons are all good. Like I said, if you're into it, more power to you. I just can't get away from the "I just placed rock onto a smooth white surface" look. It's not that it's sterile, no reef tank is sterile, but it does have some kind of clinical feel to it.

I like AJ_77's suggestion and actually the same thought occured to me, i.e., if you could shave the bottom rocks to have a flat surface it might look a little better. I suppose with a little bit creativity, people will come up with other ideas too. The hard based sandy bottom as suggested by Stircrazy and in one of the links above looks pretty promising.

That said, I still think that there are animals that require a sandy substrate, and removing that sandbed precludes you from considering them in your reef in the future. Thus, I still maintain that, although it's a valid choice, it is a carefully measured choice.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by LostMind

At first I thought it looked wrong... but now I am kinda liking it. Its a strange contrast. I plan to let the bottom become overgrown with zoa's and rics to make it appear a bit more natural.

Yeah, it looks wrong to me too, but, dang, I'm still seriously considering using Plexi for the bottom of our tank. May not stand out as much as the starboard, but will certainly have that sterile look

Was also considering making sure I had growth of some organisms other than coraline on the bottom. When I think of that alternative, I only see another detritus trap and more stuff to have to go around when siphoning out the bottom.

Currently have some zoo frags in my BB 2.5g nano. I feed the tank nothing, yet I get detritus just from the rock the zoos are on resulting in a bit of cyano on the back of the tank. Gotta siphon the bottom out every couple of weeks. It's kind of a pita to siphon the 2.5g. What the heck am I gonna do with a 37g, a 67g and 120g, all of which are 24" high Probably get a long freaking hose

Thanks for the pics, Rick Gives me some ideas about how my tanks might look.

[bear27]

Has anybody considered useing a foam or concrete mix, You can shape it and mold it anyway you like and when it cures its just like not haveing anythin on the bottom at all. You could even mold your live rock right into it for a real natural look