Ever Seen A Bare Bottom...

[FLESHY]

The benifits of a DSB require low agitation/flow. Rubble rock in a canister is fine, but I dont think the sand is going to do much, other then get kicked around and wear out the internals.

DSB is a myth. I just rescued a 125g reef from a guy that had a "DSB" and hasnt cleaned his gravel in 7 years. Hair algae everywhere...the sand was brown...it was a huge mess. Only the soft corals were alive and the fish were looking rough, no doubt due to the massive amounts of un-disturbed detritus that had accumulated and compacted in his "DSB". I just think thats plain silly. Its not how it works in nature, and its not how it works in reef aquaria.

That being said, there are huge advantages to having a sand bed, it is a good place for bacteria, and other small beneficial critters.

If you wanted to do a FO or a FOWLR, I would suggest massive filtration, including a sump, large protein skimmer, and a lot of biological filtration in the system. Spray paint the bottom of your tank black. I would also suggest that you keep LR in your tank because that will aid in your nitrification process. The FX5 does a better job picking up particulate, but the new eheims do a better job with biological filtration, even though they are smaller. There is a thread on here somewhere about the comparison.

I say with big enough filtration, and frequent water changes, there is no reason why this shouldnt work.

 

[BlackShark11k]

I think it would work fine with a large sump containing live rock and what not. Actually, I think it would look awesome and now I want to try it.

 

[Heathd]

DSB is a myth. I just rescued a 125g reef from a guy that had a "DSB" and hasnt cleaned his gravel in 7 years. Hair algae everywhere...the sand was brown...it was a huge mess. Only the soft corals were alive and the fish were looking rough, no doubt due to the massive amounts of un-disturbed detritus that had accumulated and compacted in his "DSB". I just think thats plain silly. Its not how it works in nature, and its not how it works in reef aquaria.

That being said, there are huge advantages to having a sand bed, it is a good place for bacteria, and other small beneficial critters.

If you wanted to do a FO or a FOWLR, I would suggest massive filtration, including a sump, large protein skimmer, and a lot of biological filtration in the system. Spray paint the bottom of your tank black. I would also suggest that you keep LR in your tank because that will aid in your nitrification process. The FX5 does a better job picking up particulate, but the new eheims do a better job with biological filtration, even though they are smaller. There is a thread on here somewhere about the comparison.

I say with big enough filtration, and frequent water changes, there is no reason why this shouldnt work.

That sounds more like poor husbandry then a failed DSB.

And this is the problem I have with a DSB from the get go, people are on both sides giving good thought behind why it does/doesnt work.

 

[FLESHY]

I have never seen it "work". Even if it did...it would be nasty. There is HUGE turnover of the sand bed in nature.

 

[overcooked]

I run bare bottom on my SPS dominated tank to prevent sand storms. With really high flow there isn't much of an issue with detritus build ups on the bottom.

 

[perfect_prefect]

i have a bare bottom on my cb shrimp tank. its just easier to keep cleaned.

 

[FLESHY]

I run bare bottom on my SPS dominated tank to prevent sand storms. With really high flow there isn't much of an issue with detritus build ups on the bottom.

+1...

 

[D12DetroitD12]

At a salt water only fish store by me they keep a lot of there fish in bare bottom tanks until people buy them. But thats only temporary of course.

 

[Kzonon]

I've had a bare bottom for a couple of months. Of course with a sump for filtration and water treatment. My problem with keeping it clean. Any amount of waste at all, leftover food and fish waste shows up clearly on the bare bottom. So, I was cleaning the bottom every other day (or multiple times a day) and then found myself getting kind of lazy which is when I put in some gravel.

 

[Kevin8888]

DSB is a myth. I just rescued a 125g reef from a guy that had a "DSB" and hasnt cleaned his gravel in 7 years. Hair algae everywhere...the sand was brown...it was a huge mess. Only the soft corals were alive and the fish were looking rough, no doubt due to the massive amounts of un-disturbed detritus that had accumulated and compacted in his "DSB". I just think thats plain silly. Its not how it works in nature, and its not how it works in reef aquaria.
This is a failed DSB not a normal DSB, true DSB are difficult to set up correctly, they require huge amounts of sifting, which is done by sand dwelling micro inverts like pods, worms and and micro serpent sandstars with sufficient populations they keep it well aggitated and healthy creating the best filter possible.
That being said, there are huge advantages to having a sand bed, it is a good place for bacteria, and other small beneficial critters.
Agreed.
I say with big enough filtration, and frequent water changes, there is no reason why this shouldnt work.
True but I personaly wouldn't reccomend it though I try to simulate a truely natural environment as best as I can.

That sounds more like poor husbandry then a failed DSB.
Exactly.
And this is the problem I have with a DSB from the get go, people are on both sides giving good thought behind why it does/doesnt work.
It's because not enough people set them up correctly so they fail

I have never seen it "work". Even if it did...it would be nasty. There is HUGE turnover of the sand bed in nature.
Well that's where I have to agree to a point, a proper DSB can be "ugly" due to the huge amount of life in the sand the sand can look quite dirty but its the best filter/clean up crew you could ever have (when set up correctly).

I wasn't nessisarily reffering to a remote sand Deep Sand Bed though, I was reffering to a remote Sand Bed in general, which is of course a sand bed in the sump, with or without live rock rubble.