what's the deal with barebottom or substrate? What's natural? An FYI and discussion.

[Sk8r]

Go to a site like bonaire reef cam and just watch it a while. You'll see a tall cliff, rocky, with corals, with a lot of fish and a massive amount of current sweeping up and down.

Tangs and angels galore...nowhere near any sand. And this is the reason some reefers build this kind of environment. A lot of sps corals overhang the deep abyss with ferocious currents---no sand for miles.

Other fishes make their livings near the sand, little sand burrowers like jawfish, or gobies and blennies that den in tiny caves, or with burrowing shrimp.

So yes, some marine environment has sand, some doesn't. Both are natural.

What does sand do for you? It, along with your rock, breaks down waste and helps your tank thrive. A dual sandbed, a deep one in the fuge, one either shallow or deep in the display tank, can provide this in duplicate. And you can have one in the fuge WITHOUT having one in the display tank, too. There are all sorts of combinations.

Now---here we launch into my own theory, so be warned: the following is opinion. Certain midwater fishes like tangs and angels are ferociously ich-prone in our tanks---probably because they are not used to being near sandbeds, which is where ich hangs out between fishes. Our tanks put them within 20" of a sandbed. And with their very light slime coat---they're targets.

Certain fishes like dragonets, blennies and gobies have a natural slime coat (like a handful of jello)---that enables them to live near the sand without too much trouble. They sand-sift for a living or eat pods which exist on the sand or around it, and generally---this is their environment.

But there are some problems with a barebottom tank: that's a lot of sharp rock. And before I laid down my sandy bottom, (my rock went down first) I laid down a grid of eggcrate to protect that glass from sharp rocks and impacts of a rockfall. Then the sand. Just grid isn't too attractive. So people have come up with other answers. If you are interested in the barebottom approach, ask around. There are solutions to this.

I offer the above just to make you aware there are a lot of ways of reefing, and different kinds of tanks. So look at some of the other forums like Reef Discussion and SPS and LPS and Zoanthids, etc, and learn how varied this hobby is.