who goes sandless?

wilks

wilks

Member
I've read a lot of your diaries and it seems like a lot of people with nanos have a shallow sand bed. A guy at the LFS store told me yesterday that I shouldn't have sand in my 29 gallon. "It's just more surface area for algae to grow", he said.
So I'm trying to decide what to do, I like the way sand looks but I don't want it to cause extensive problems.
 
hlcroghan

hlcroghan

Active Member
Honestly I think that was bad advice. If you have bad tank maintenace you are going to have algae problems either way. It is much more beneficial IMO and IME to have sand than not.
For instance, many types of fish and inverts need sand to survive because they have to dig so this will limit livestock options and beneficial bacteria live in your sand that help process ammonia into nitrate. There are even some corals that have to be in the sand bad.
Some people do like bare bottom but they also say it can freak the fish out if they see their reflection too much, although I don't know if that is true or not.
Maintenace might be a little simpler but not better.
Let some bare bottom fans (that sounds really bad LOL
) chime in here if there are any and see what they have to say.
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
My main tank with livestock I have sand/crushed coral as I like the looks -- place for critters to live in and believe it is beneficial.
Now my frag tank with only one fish -- I have a "little" live rock and bare bottom for ease of cleaning and I don't want critters -- although RIGHT NOW crushed coral in there would be pretty cool and I could just plant the plugs in the crushed coral versus eggcrate.. hmmmmm
 
nissan577

nissan577

Active Member
i had sand before but then i took it out. i still have some but in the back since i couldnt reach lol. but the whole front is covered with GSP. which hopefully they start to open soon
 
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