Sand bed depth

[Shilpan]

Hello
I am purchasing a 400L reef tank, my aim to eventually have a reef.

I'm adding some aragonite sand. What is a good San bed depth and why? The pet shop guy is trying to convince me I need a really deep bed (minimum 5-6cm) to keep my rocks stable and for bacteria. But I personally feel like a shallow bed is better because it won't trap as much detritus.

Suggestions on sand bed depth and why? I am interested in what is easy to clean but also what is good for my fish.

 

[lmforbis]

My preference is a shallow sand bed. No particular reason just prefer the way it looks. I'd say mine was about 1.5 inches so 3-4 cm across the whole bottom. because of the flow in my tank it isn't the same all over the tank any more. I have an area where it is around 6 inches and other places where the glass is visible.
The rocks should go into the tank first and be stable without sand. The sand goes in after the rocks and isn't there to provide stability.

 

[Shilpan]

Cheers!

I like the idea of a few centimeters too.

 

[Shilpan]

How do you find cleaning your sand bed? How often do you need to siphon it? Weekly?

 

[lmforbis]

I only clean about 10% each time I do. Water change.

 

[jay0705]

It's not like fw where u stir the bed while you siphon. With sw you only want to skim the top,not stir it up

 

[beaslbob]

How do you find cleaning your sand bed? How often do you need to siphon it? Weekly?

Never!!!
(causes more problems then just letting it alone)
Of course you can always suck out anything ugly at the surface. Just don't stir up the sand. IMHO

my .02

 

[Shilpan]

Ok so I'm not stirring up the entire thing, just sucking any visible detritus off ths surface and cleaning that topmost layer whenever I do my water change. (Thinking 10% water change every two weeks plus testing to start).