opinions please

[Tom@HaslettMI]

I'm getting close-ish to upgrading tanks and am trying to decide if I should move the existing sand bed or go without one. I don't have the budget (or desire) to get fresh sand.

Here are the details:


~1.5 inches of CaribSea special reef grade sand (I think)
Well established (15 years old)
moving from a 36"x18" to 48"x18" footprint
I have some dry sand that I could add to maintain depth


Thanks for voting!

Tom

[MizTanks]

Keep the sand! Yuck to bare bottom :)

[Sir Patrick]

Are you asking to go bare bottom or keep the sand, or are you asking keep the old sand or get new sand?

I havnt voted yet, but I would keep the sand in the fuge, as long as you can do the upgrade without disturbing it too much.

The 15 year old shallow sand bed in the display, I would definitely start fresh, and keep a bit to seed the new sand bed.

As far as sand vs. bare bottom- that would depend on your plans for the upgrade tank.

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Sorry for the lack of clarity in the OP.


Are you asking to go bare bottom or keep the sand, or are you asking keep the old sand or get new sand?

I have no intent to buy new sand. I'm asking if I should go bare in the DT, bare in the fuge, bare in both, or sand in both.


I havnt voted yet, but I would keep the sand in the fuge, as long as you can do the upgrade without disturbing it too much.

The refugium is currently bare bottom and will either remain as such or get the existing sand added.


The 15 year old shallow sand bed in the display, I would definitely start fresh, and keep a bit to seed the new sand bed.

The goal is to avoid buying more substrate. I don't believe that aragonite "goes bad" and needs to be replaced. I plan to clean the existing substrate by stirring it, once all corals, fish and rock are removed, and siphoning out the detritus laden water.


As far as sand vs. bare bottom- that would depend on your plans for the upgrade tank.

The short-term goal of the upgrade is to maintain a mixed reef and get more space for my two clams. I'm leaning toward keeping the sand in the DT but was hoping to get some bare-bottom advocates to chime in. The long-term (5+ year) goal is to have the to-be-DT (75 gallon tank) become the frag tank and an even larger tank to become the DT.

Thanks,
Tom

[jimsflies]

I had bare bottom on my old tank and have sand now. I guess I'm 51% in favor of sand now.

[cephalotus]

I switched to bare bottom two years ago and would never go back. My tank is the cleanest it has ever been and I can throw as much flow at it as I want.

[Sir Patrick]

Unless you want to acheive some very high flow, keep nutrients really low with siphoning and generally are tired of sand blowing around, I would get rid of it.

If none of the above is anything that effects your next build, I would definitely stay with a sand bed.

In my opinion, a display looks much nicer with sand, and sumps are easier to maintain without sand.

A shallow sand bed isnt so bad to reuse and clean like a deep bed, with its light laking zone and the bacterias that grow there. I agree, aragonite does not go bad.

With all info given, If it were my tank, I would reuse the sand in my display in the new tank, and go bare bottom in the fuge.

Looking forward to seeing this upgrade!

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Please keep 'em coming.

Tom

[larryandlaura]

What did you decide on doing? I agree with Chris a display tank looks better with sand. And when I redid my sump I just pit live rock in my refugium for easy maintance.

[rmalone]

I just like the look of substrate in the display. As such I would probably always have it. I also think that a sand bed tends to increase the amount of pods and other critters, though I suppose thats debatable.

But BB offers some nice advantages, it does let you do anything you want with flow. You needn't worry about old sand being a nitrate time bomb, which they may or may not be, depends who you ask. I will say that if I had bb in the tank I would go with none in the sump/refurgium. There again I see no need for sand or mud, etc in the sump. You need a pretty big and deep sand bed to actually have any appreciable de-nitrification. A couple cc's of vodka per day can take care of nitrates.

[Sir Patrick]

I love my BB tank.

[AZDesertRat]

I have had bare bottom and hated it. I prefer a fully functioning DSB in the 5-6" deep range which I would be hesitant in moving but your shallow sand does not contain anaerobic or anoxic bacteria so I say give it a good rinse and reuse it.