sand or no sand

[i have crabs]

im just trying to see how many people are using sand vs. no sand,i keep leening closer to the no sand side of things and am down to only 2 out of 6 tanks having sand left in them

 

[melosu58]

I think you should have sand because of the biological part of it. It does house some of the nitrifying bacteria that will reduce ammonia and nitrites to nitrates. Yes LR has this but your sand will add more.

 

[ntswift]

I like having sand because it looks alot better with it than without it IMO. I'm also agree with what melosu said.

 

[Guest]

This is my opinion.
After having a tank set up with sand vs my buddies tank with CC I will stick with sand for personal reasons.

 

[i have crabs]

i like the look of sand but hate the algae,cyno and diatom problems that seem to come with the sand,the tanks i have no sand in seem to have less algae and lower nitrates

 

[OceanMaiden]

Sand might look good, but if you have fish who like to dig like crazy it will be all over everything, LOL. Aside from that hope you never have to do a 100% water change with a tank that has sand in it as it stinks soooooooo bad youll wanna vomit till ya die. No kidding. I had to take the sand out of my tank because the dragon fish was making such a horrendous mess and getting it up in the filter as well. What a weiner, he loves digging though I swapped out the sand for some small gravel he can shovel up and move aroud.
He loves it just as much as the sand so hes happy, and so em I. Nomore mess or stinky sand

 

[Devilishturtles]

algae,cyno and diatom problems

All temporary problems at setup and when water quality gets bad. Not all tanks with sand have cyano and algae problems.

I personally keep sand because it was my intents to create as natural a habitat as possible for my reef.

 

[roka64]

my intents to create as natural a habitat as possible for my reef.

Me too.

 

[pearsont74]

this should be a no brainer.....always sand....i bet anyone without sand has a heck of a time keepin the the water levels good.

 

[Jermz79]

Not necessarily ... there are plenty of thriving BB tanks. Although I would never do it myself it does make clean up very easy as you can just vacuum the bare bottom and clean detrius very easy.

If the poll was ..

Sand
Crushed Coral
or Bare Bottom

I think sand will still win, but you may see some votes for BB. Crushed Coral is out and IMO should not be used at all.

 

[i have crabs]

i was thinking that no sand was the same as bb,as fas as keeping a tank with no sand the water quality seems to be a lot easier to manage and i know that diatoms and some algae are mostly new tank syndroms i asways had a little problem with cyno in my old reef(with sand) but never in a tank that was bb,but either way it seems the majority of people here like sand so ill keep it in the reef for a while longer and try to lick the problems as they arise.

 

[StripesTheEel]

IMO its a look thing, some people like it with, some without, obviously sand will help maintain a lot of the chemical balance, but people without sand are also achieving this; eg; no sand in main, and lots in the sump etc..

Personal taste i reckon..

 

[xkenneth]

barebottoms in Freshwater make sense to me but in Saltwater it doesn't quite fit. There is just too much going on in the sandbed to not have it. I'd really like to see the levels in a BB saltwater tank. If you are worried about nitrate and algae issues it's the quality of the water. If you're using RO/DI water you really shouldn't have any algae problems because you're absolutely eliminating algae's principle food source. If you have a good clean-up crew, don't overstock, and don't overfeed, then you won't have any nitrate issues. Without a good sandbed you won't have any nitrates at all because you'll just be stuck with ammonia.

Also I believe the current poll results support my position. BB just isn't an option for SW unless your sand is in your sump.