Bare bottom tank?

There's an article in this month's Aquarium Fish International that makes the claim that a bare-bottom, or at least sandless, tank provides better water quality than one with sand. The author is saying the sand just traps waste which in the open ocean would be flushed away by waves and tides, therefore requiring much more effort by the aquarium keeper to keep clean with vacs and water changes.

i dunno. The tank he uses as illustration doesn't have sand but isn't bare-bottom either; he coated the bottom and parts of the sides with expando-foam, which he either managed to acquire in a blue color or painted afterwards. I don't find blue-bottom tanks attractive so may be prejudiced here. :) But check their website fishchannel.com if you don't have the magazine handy, it might give you some ideas. The answer to your question then appears to be "yes."
 
^ you can go that route to avoid the problems mentioned but, like he mentioned, those same problems can be avoided by stirring the sand. I think I would prefer some sort of substrate just because of the filtration it offers (obviously keeping it stirred so as not to trap volatile stuff)

I know I would probably never go anything but sand. A SW tank, to me, is a little piece of the ocean in my house and I want it to look as close as possible
 
For that matter, any tank is easier to clean and has less bacteria if it is bare bottomed. Most breeders keep their aquariums BB for ease of cleaning and to keep the water cleaner for the fry. But, there is a reason most of us like to put a little something at the bottom of our tanks and that is we are trying to recreate a little part of nature. It just seems to me a tank with no sand or gravel is ugly. It doesn't take that much extra work to keep the substrate clean.
 
Since it would be easier with waste, that makes it easier for the water parameters.

I can add sand in later, I think it would be easier to start off bare-bottomed.

I think i'll go bare-bottomed.


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Right on. I still don't see it being easier because you still have to clean the waste out, same as if you had substrate.

I would be scared of chemical spikes because the filtration comes from live sand and live rock so that's like taking out part of the filtration to me. Granted I'm not very experienced with salt water so my word is not necessarily right by any means.

Let us know how it's coming =) don't forget the pictures
 
Ya, what he said.
 
The biggest advantage of a bare-bottom is simply really. You can point your powerful powerheads downwards. :laugh:


It depends on your fish really. I keep a lot of diggers and burrowers so I have to do sand. But if you only keep swimmers or rock-dwellers then it does have its advantages.
 
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