Need opinions with dilemma... Redoing tank. Should I put in new sand or go bare?

[alikat]

As some of you know, my 55 had a crash of some sort. My best guess is that it was my heater, but it killed all of my coral, inverts, and a couple of fish. I've decided to empty the whole thing out, clean it up, and put new water in it. Should I put new sand in it? If so, is the deep sand bed the way to go? Or I've heard some of you talking about not having a sand bed at all. Any opinions? I sure would appreciate your help. I need to jump on this tomorrow.

 

[seedless reefer]

I guess bare bottom is a personal taste or just a desire to be different but I think it looks bleak, stark and just ugly in every facet.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

I always go either deep sand bed in both the fuge and display or shallow sand bed in the tank and deep sand bed in the fuge. You will not see me with a bare bottom...


Ok cut the jokes!!!

 

[alikat]

Got some dark sand. Very pretty! Of course everything is still blurry right now. Hopefully, it turns out okay. Do I really need 4 inches? If so, I'll need to go and get some more. I have somewhere between 2 and 3 inches right now.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

AliKat;131172 wrote: Got some dark sand. Very pretty! Of course everything is still blurry right now. Hopefully, it turns out okay. Do I really need 4 inches? If so, I'll need to go and get some more. I have somewhere between 2 and 3 inches right now.

Yes, you need to have over 3".. so you can get away with 3.5" but FYI, you are going to loose about .5" of sand each 6 months to a year so at 3.5" you will be replacing/topping off a bit sooner...

Between 2" and 3" is a pretty bad thing long term.