BB Tank vs Sand Bed Tank

[Bijjy]

Not trying to start a debate. Just a simple question with a potentially complicated answer... Without regard for the long term (3 years or longer) effects. Is it easier for a newbie (me) to start with a sand bottom tank... or BB with sump and skimmer?

Thank you in advance,

Amit

[tabwyo]

Bare bottoms are so sexy!!!!! BB's require a little maint. other than siphoning off debris. Sand beds need critters, food, stirring, replenishment. But sand does look so good. Ilong for a shallow sand bed that doesn't trap detritus. HHHMMMMMM!!!!!

[Bijjy]

Does a BB require any critters?

[tdwyatt]

the BB wil need some animals to help with keeping the bottom clean and relatively free of algae. Good housekeeping on your part will avoid this so long as the detritus is kept from collecting on the rock and the bottom is siphoned on a regular basis. Once the tank gets some maturity, and youre not feeding the tank so much that there is a bacterial pop explosion in the rock, the amount of detrital sediments will be relatively low, but this will depend on your feedings and the number of fishes, etc.

The real decision for choosing BB vs DSB will depend more on whether you need a high volume flow reef-top emulation with few fishes and mostly stony corals or if you want a mixed tank of stony (lps) and octocorals leaning more toward the lagoonal system biotopes or reef flats with flow. This will affect your decisions for which types of corals you want to keep, as well as the conditions for such a system and its support mechanisms.

For a newbie, I would recommend a DSB tank. It is much easier to start, is more forgiving of husbandry mistakes, will export nitrogenous wastes as nitrogen, and will help control carbon cycling to some extent. Biggest problem with a DSB is learning the patience to deal with the algal succession that is associated with benthic population dynamics, and maintaining the necessary benthic creatures for good sandbed maintenance.o

Many pros and cons and differing opinions on the topic, many opinions will be offerred by folks with little ability to see both sides. Take the info offerred here and decide what type of tank you want to keep, then build your biotope around the requirements of such a system.

hth

[Joefish]

Originally Posted by Bijjy

Does a BB require any critters?

All Tanks need some sort of clean up crew .

For my BB soap and a face cloth does the trick .

JK

In my BB tank , snails , snails oh and did i mention snails ? I also have some cuccumbers , urchins and a lightfoot sally crab .

[Bijjy]

For a 135 gal how many critters should i get? and what type?

[Jimbo]

I would keep the tank the main tank BB. Put in a refugium although this can be your sump also. A refugium is a place to grow algea and copods(bugs), you can put sand in here and still have the beneifits of the safety margin Tdwyatt was talking about. I just use two clear containers with 1.5 inches of sand in them. this way I can dump one out every 3-6 months and replace it with fresh sand.

[tabwyo]

I would go for snails. Lots of snails. I personaly hate hermit crabs. Never have liked em, but snails are devine. They are eating machines. I have found ceriths next to impossible to kill. Bumblebees are cute little buggers as well. Margaritas prefer a cool tank but they eat 24/7 and grow lovely coralline on there shells. I don't know about abolones yet but I intend to give them a shot.

[tabwyo]

for a 135 I'd shoot for a cool 300 snails. 100 herbivors and 200 omnivors.

[motorslave]

I am on my first tank. It is a BB and the maint is relatively simple as mentioned above. This is a benifit of course. One benifit I have read in having a DSB is the buffering capability of the sand. I love the look of a sand bed but I want to have some of the more demanding coral thus high flow and a BB!
I do love the simple clean up of a BB!

Robert

[tabwyo]

Check out the BB post by Spanky. He not only hates sand but he's got the science to back up his personal views. For some ungodly reason I intend to run a remote sandbed to act as a sink for nutrients. But don't get the Spanker started on that.

[Krux]

oh no you don't, keep that remote dsb theory of your relegated to our other forum!


td said it best, ti really depends on what you want to keep. you have seen my tank, and the corals that i keep, as well as those at soutas and upscales. check out that book i was talking to you about and look into the flow needs of the corals that you are interested in.

both will work, yes a dsb is more forgiving for beginners, and it has its merits, but there are pros and cons to each setup.

check out the dsb threads in the think tank.

[tabwyo]

Sorry, didn't mean to jack the thread. It is a related subject though, gimme some credit.

[Krux]

well ok, credit you can have, but we will let the bomber punish you for your dire transgressions in construction this frankenstein's monster!

[tabwyo]

Bottom line is BB's are clean and they need to be kept that way. Sandbeds offer a cushion in housekeeping. But sandbeds need to be maintained as well and replace periodically. I find it pretty easy to keep up with my BB setup cause I am a siphon and turkey baster freak. In a BB you can't let the poop just sit.