Converting bare bottom to sand

[Ratpack]

I have had my bare bottom ref for about 3 years now and I think I am ready to change. It works good but when the bottom is dirty, it really looks bad. I tried sand before, but I think it was too fine and caused a mess. What sand should I look at and what cautions do I need to take other than not letting it fly all over the place?

 

[DaveK]

The sandbed is one area were you really can't go too far wrong. You see people that use everything from bare bottom to deep sandbed and everything in between. You also see people using everything from very fine "sugar sand" to very course, almost live rock rubble. It all depends upon what you want out of the sandbed,

Generally fine sand traps less dirt, and course sand gives more places for pods and such to grow. Deep sandbeds are better at nitrate reduction, but displace lots more water from the tank.

If I was doing your tank, I thing I'd go with dry aragonite sand, a grade or two courser than the very fine sugar sand. Wash it carefully first to remove any dust from it. Do not wish it too hard because it can grind against itself creating more dust. I would add just enough sand to cover the bottom, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch. If you want it deeper later, it's easy to add more, but it's a real pain to remove once you get it deep.

 

[borderreef]

Carib Sea special grade. It is not so fine that it moves around too much, and it does not cake together like some of the finer sands can. You can supplement it with some CaribSea Arag alive special grade to add some beneficial fauna at the same time. As I posted in another thread, make sure to rinse the dry stuff only really, really well before adding it to the tank. Even though it is "pre-rinsed", there is tons of stuff in it you do not want to put into an existing tank. The other thing I would do when going from BB to dsb would be to try to raise and secure the rock to just at sand level. I use pieces of 4" pvc with holes drilled in it to keep my rock off and out of the sand. I do this so that anything that likes to dig under the rock does not undermine the integrity of the rock, causing intability and the posibility of knocking over the structure. Also, it allows my cucumbers the opportunity to feed under the rocks. When you add it to the tank, Use a long piece of 4" pvc as a funnel to place the sand right on the bottom. Keep the power heads off while you add the sand, and keep them off for a couple os hours to let the sand settle. There is still going to be a dust storm. Nothing you can do about that, but it will clear up quickly with good skimming, and will not have any ill effects on fish and corals. The corals may close up, but that's what they do.

 

[Uslanja]

Hi Ratpack! We have seen some gorgeous bare bottom tanks and there is something about the look of them that we find appealing. But we have always had sand beds and have come to appreciate the benefits of a deep sand bed. CaribSea Live Sand is something that we have always used with great success and so we recommend its use and don't wash it but use it straight from the bag. We have never used the very fine sand that they carry but hope to in our next build. We are proponents of deep sand beds with the fauna and anaerobic bacterias that they support. Even though we have used the more coarse sands we have had difficulty getting our power heads and wave makers positioned so that the sand doesn't get moved around but it is possible with a little bit of time and adjustment. But the finer the sand the more variety of life it will support. And of coarse we no longer use any type of substrate sifters so that we don't disturb that life. To answer your question about sand size we would probably use the 1 - 2 mm size to keep things from blowing around too much.

 

[Ratpack]

Thanks for the replies. I got most of the detritus off the bottom and I think I am going to see how it does before I convert. If it accummilates quickly, then I will look at adding the sand that has been recommended.

 

[JAXReef1]

I'm moving to bare bottom. Maybe try getting a power head hitting the bottom to keep it clean, that's my plan.

 

[Ratpack]

I just converted over to a Vortech MP40, so I will see how that does before adding anymore powerheads. I hated the look of all the powerheads I had in there before.

 

[mikethebike7]

how about sectioning the bottom, with a 'sandbox' area, and or leave a few areas bare, perhaps by using some type of border framework to keep the sand out of that area. then you have both sandy and bare areas.