The great substrate debate (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

I'm still trying to decide what substrate to use for my 145g I am setting up. I don't want a DSB, so that's out, but I still find myself trying to decide between a shallow sand bed - about 1/2" to 1" of coarse grained sand (not this oolitic stuff I have now) and barebottom (with or without starboard).

From what I've read, barebottom is the easiest to maintain longterm, but it's not as asthetically pleasing. A shallow sand bed would look better, but would require frequent stirring and vacuuming to keep it from becoming a nutrient sink.

I'm curious what others are using, particularly those of you who have had longterm (2-3+ years) success with your tanks.

 

[Aggie05]

I have been running barebottom in my prop tank for a couple of months now and have already noticed a good amount of coraline growth on the glass, so it shouldn't take long to completely cover the bottom to where you would even be able to tell what it is.

 

[AggieBrandon]

use some form of adhesive to attach the sand/substrate to the starboard for a more appealing look. Then it would still be easy to vacuum etc for detritus removal.

Brandon

 

[ShaneV]

My vote is shallow to medium sand bed. My concern for barebottom is it limiting some creatures you might want for the tank.(jawfish, your LTA might not be happy with no our too little sand)

 

[Guest]

we have been running (black) starboard for about 2 months and it is covered in little corriline circles... 8) We have had no PH swings nor any Po4 or No3 traces

Brian

 

[Guest]

go with the GSP covered bottom. thats always cool

 

[Guest]

Marbles

 

[ScubaMedic]

bpynckel,
Do you have any pictures of your tank with the black starboard?

I tried to find some for Mike but I had problems finding the ones that were on RC.

 

[incysor]

My wife found a thread not too long ago where the guy mixed sand into clear epoxy. Basically he got a barebottom tank, but it looked like he had a shallow sandbed. When she told me about it I figured it would look like crap, but surprisingly it looked very good. I just tried to find the thread, but it appears that RC is down. I'll try to remember to ask Shannen about it when I get home.

 

[incysor]

Ok...RC appears to be back up and running....Doing a quick search for epoxy AND sand
or
resin AND sand resulted in several threads. Here's two.

This is the one my wife orginally showed me. The guy uses epoxy.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...page=25&highlight=epoxy AND sand&pagenumber=1

This one the person uses resin.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...page=25&highlight=resin AND sand&pagenumber=1

 

[Guest]

Very innovative.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I've seen those threads on the faux sandbeds - pretty cool. I'm not sure I want to try something like that until I see what other's longterm experiences are, but it's very tempting. If I did that, my clown would be in for a rude awakening when she tries to dig in the sand and hits sandpaper instead. :-o

I don't think a shallow sand bed of 1" or less is enough to keep an LTA or jawfish happy, so that's not a factor. I've already planned how to deal with the LTA.

Besides being able to avoid detritus accumulation over the long run, the other factors I'm considering are my digging clown who will constantly be rearranging the sand if it is present, and getting enough flow along the bottom of the tank. My current plan is to have 3 closed loop return nozzles mounted along the back of the tank, a few inches from the bottom. This flow should prevent anything from settling on the bottom in a barebottom tank - but would it be too strong to keep the sand in place?