sand bed

[lilduud]

didnt know where to put this so please redirect me.

has anyone ever gone sand-less? just live rock and water? i would imagine it would make clean up way easier however what would the effect be on the water quality etc... could you compensate with double the live rock? or would doing a DSB in your fuge be an equivalent?

 

[ccCapt]

I ran my tank bare bottom for probably 15 yrs. The only reason I added some sand (my sand is 1" at the deepest and bare in lots of spots) was it looks better than glass with coralline. As far as water chemistry, shallow sand bed or no sand makes no difference. A proper deep sand bed of at least 6" will help remove nitrates.