Sand vs Bare Bottom

[BigBlue187]

What do you guys have on the bottoms of you FOWLR tanks?
I hear good things and bad things about sand in the bottoms of tanks. So I would like to know what you guys think.

This is also going to help me decide on what to put on the bottom of my new 125.

As of right now I'm leaning towards Bare bottom.

[yellowslayer13]

mine is lyyers with plush oregon sunstones and some garnit it looks really goos and shimmers well

[jda]

I use about 2-3" of sand with some sea floor (larger pieces of crushed shells and corals) to keep the fish from stirring the sand around.

[Osmotic Shock]

I use enough sand to cover the PVC the eel lives in, about 2-3".

[fishman2006]

My 125 is BB and I love it. I have lots of flow (2-Koralia 4's, Tunze 6060, Little Giant return pump) to keep particles suspended. The little bit of detritus that does accumulate in one corner is easily to siphon out when I do a water change

[BigBlue187]

Fishman- What kind of fish do you have in your 125? Looks like you got alot of flow .

[welsher7]

My 125g FOWLR is BB. I have 3 koralia 4s and 1 koralia 2. with a mag12 return pump. I have a russells lionfish, blue hippo tang, and a yellow tang. I need a larger skimmer tho I only have asm g3.

[fishman2006]

Fishman- What kind of fish do you have in your 125? Looks like you got alot of flow

Majestic and emperor angel, miniatus grouper, purple tang, clown, picasso, and niger trigger, clown soapfish. They seemed to enjoy the flow.

[BigBlue187]

You must have some pretty good filtration for all of those fish. Hows the bio load in your tank?

I'm just tring to get a idea on how many fish I can put in to my 125.

[fishman2006]

You must have some pretty good filtration for all of those fish. Hows the bio load in your tank?
I have 2- tidepool 2's for mechanical filtration, and ETSS 800 skimmer and about 125lbs live rock. I do a 25g water change every 1-2 weeks. Works out pretty well

[dendro982]

What was in your tank? You may still go with that, or if it was not so good - try bare bottom.

I wasn't able to keep the shallow sand bed without constant accumulation of debris, and vacuuming the sand is the task, I could live without it. :D

Now FOWLR (well, almost FOWLR) is BB.

[patej]

sand, sand, sand

[techigirl78]

I don't have any bare bottom tanks, but would go that route if I didn't want any sand loving creatures (wrasses, jawfish, watchmen gobies, etc.) or eels (cover up PVC). In barebottom threads, there are usually a number of good suggestions on making it look good as well.

[jda]

I found it hard to keep a BB tank water completely clear. I was using a bullett 2 on iwaki AND a ASM G4. BB can work well - at least it did for me - but it is not for everybody. Do your homework.

[BigBlue187]

Well the only reason I was going to go BB was because I heard if you have to thin of a sand bed it turns in to a nitrate problem. So I would have to have a thick sand bed. And that much sand takes up alot of space.

Thats why I was just going to go BB in the main tank then have a really deep sand bed in my refugium.

[jda]

You can almost plan on some sort of a nitrate problem in a FOWLR anyway. 5-20PPM is not uncommon at all.

Sugar, ethanol, denitrators, fuges, etc. can all keep this under control.

It is very hard, but not impossible, to have a fowlr with near-reef water parameters.

[karlyhui]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10570316#post10570316 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishman2006
Majestic and emperor angel, miniatus grouper, purple tang, clown, picasso, and niger trigger, clown soapfish. They seemed to enjoy the flow.

Hi

How big are the Majestic and Emperor and how they are getting alone. I have heard they will kill each other.

I want to buy a blueface but my husband wants to buy a emperor.

Do you think the flow has to do with it?

thanks.

[Jim_S]

I pulled the sand out of my FOWLR about 4 months ago. I cannot express how happy I am with it.

The key it LOTS of flow and a big skimmer.

Jim

[Beemo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10574280#post10574280 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BigBlue187
Well the only reason I was going to go BB was because I heard if you have to thin of a sand bed it turns in to a nitrate problem. So I would have to have a thick sand bed. And that much sand takes up alot of space.

Thats why I was just going to go BB in the main tank then have a really deep sand bed in my refugium.

oopsy, is that true? a thin sand bed lead to higher nitrates??
my 55g FO i have a very thin layer of arag sand, only about 1/4" thick

my reef has a thick layer about 4"
so far i dont notice a difference in the nitrate levels on either tank, my reef tank is a tad higher than my FO actually, im sure because its several years older

[Toddrtrex]

All three of my tanks have shallow sand beds ( 1"-2"), heck one is even crushed coral. If you do the right upkeep with a shallow sand bed you won't have nitrate issues -- I can't detect any nitrates in any of the tanks.