No sand bed

[ghettotang]

I see that most people have a sand bed in there reef tank. My question is what are disadvantage of not having sand bed and advantage of having sand bed. Also if I plan to have simple reef tank do I really the live sand beucase here I have one LFS doesn't use sand bed at all in their reef tank.
Jay

 

[teen]

if you dont use a sand bed you will most likely have nitrate problems. you need to skime heavily and keep up on water changes without a sand bed as well. a tank without a sand bed is most often used in sps tanks so the nutrient levels are kept to a minimum.
your lfs tanks most likely dont have sand because they are medicated tanks so parasites can not be trapped inside the substrate.
if you want a simple reef, use a sand bed. BB tanks are a lot more work.

 

[brucoh]

I second that. I thought it would be easier going the barebottom route. It ended up being a pain in the butt. I didn't keep up with weekly water changes and battled cyno the whole time. Stick with sand, it's less maintenance, keeps your water more stable (you don't have to do weekly water changes) and it looks so much better.

 

[ghettotang]

Thanx for the explaination. So I have 75 gallon tank and what kind of sand to you suggest and should I go with deep sand or shallow sand.
Thanx,
Jay