subtrate or no subrate?

Jep21

Jep21

Well-known member
I'm starting a new tank.. A biocube 29 wondering what kind of substrate would be best and what brand.. Also is it ok to have no substrate at all?

thanks
jep
 
I have seen many tanks with no subtrate. Coraline corals will grow on the glass. As far as best brand and type I've always used aragonite. Not saying its the best just what I used without issues
 
My next build will be bare bottom. It will look kinda weird for the next few months until you get coraline growth on the bottom glass. you can also use starboard to protect the glass. Bare bottom means no sand to trap nutrients, your live rock does all the bacteria filtration.
 
I've seen a lot of nano and bio cubes with no substrate, and it looks great! The black bottom adds a nice ambiance. But if you're going with substrate, make sure its aragonite and not silica, otherwise you'll be fighting diatoms non stop!
 
I would go with Tropic Eden from Premium Aquatics. Good stuff IMO. I guess bare bottom wouldn't look bad but than you can't have certain fish or stuff in the tank because some livestock needs sand.
 
I changed to no substrate in my tank and so far could not be happier.It is easy to siphon detritus and I can have lots of flow without worrying about sand storms.After a while coraline algae takes over and it looks good.I believe either to go with DSB or not at all.In my experience shallow sand bed is just a nutrient sink.You need to vacuum it regularly.It is easy in the beginning stages,but once your corals take off and grow it is PIA.,without breaking your corals.So far after couple of months without sand I did not notice any negative effects.I keep a small plastics food container in the back corner of my tank filled with sand for my yellow wrasse to sleep in at night.
 
oh ok tnx everyone... Was wondering if I do start off with no sand would it be hard to put sand later if decide I want sand... Would that also start off a new cycle?
 
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