I have seen a few bare bottoms in aquariums lately and figured I would post up this alternative for a mess free substrate. In reality this is all done for aesthetics as you no longer have the benefits of beneficial bacteria or other microfauna nor is it suitable for sand loving wrasses and gobies, but it does clear up the low flow issues and it still looks surprisingly good. I am thinking about a black sand for a nano in the future.
This first example was done by friend who frequents Tropical Fish Keeping, known as Dylanmegyptian to most. Good guy with some DIY skills.
made a faux sand bed with famowood epoxy and caribsea agronite sand so I can have the asthetics of a sand bed with the ease of a BB