Who is running bare bottom tanks?

[stevenp]

I'm seriously considering converting my tank to bare bottom. The appearance of a BB tank isn't a factor for me - I actually like the way they look.

For those of you with experience running bare bottom what is your opinion? What pros and cons did you run into? I've done some reading on RC and it appears most who've actually run BB are strong advocates.

Not looking to start a debate, just looking for first hand feedback from those who have experience with this approach .

 

[daveb]

ive done, DSB, BB and (SSB) 1/2" or shorter, short sand bed. personaly i like BB, and SSB the best.


BB
pros - ALOT of flow (great for SPS),
no dead spots-(detritus build-up)

cons - anything other than SPS usually get blown away,
generally not aesthetically pleasing,
not conductive to gobies, sand sifting stars and anything else that thrives off of the sand bed population.

SSB
pros - generally aesthetically pleasing,
has sand life = pods and other microfauna.

cons - cant get as much flow or GPH(gallons per hour) which = dead spots and build up of detritus.

 

[Liam]

the fact that there are no dead spots has been a myth in my experience,detritus will collect in some corner and become unsightly and difficult to remove.
I ran a tank barebottom for a year ,never again

 

[stevenp]

the fact that there are no dead spots has been a myth in my experience,detritus will collect in some corner and become unsightly and difficult to remove.
I ran a tank barebottom for a year ,never again

Is that why you went back to sand? Because you had detrius accumulation that couldn't be removed?

 

[stevenp]

ive done, DSB, BB and (SSB) 1/2" or shorter, short sand bed. personaly i like BB, and SSB the best.


BB
pros - ALOT of flow (great for SPS),
no dead spots-(detritus build-up)

cons - anything other than SPS usually get blown away,
generally not aesthetically pleasing,
not conductive to gobies, sand sifting stars and anything else that thrives off of the sand bed population.

SSB
pros - generally aesthetically pleasing,
has sand life = pods and other microfauna.

cons - cant get as much flow or GPH(gallons per hour) which = dead spots and build up of detritus.

Thanks, good info. I've heard of people putting a tuperware container of sand in the tank so gobies/wrasses have a place to sleep.

 

[Liam]

Is that why you went back to sand? Because you had detrius accumulation that couldn't be removed?

that and i did not like the look

 

[Ronnie]

I ran it for 6 months BB loved it. Kind of wish I never put sand back in (Grey Coast) If you don't mind the look then go for it. There are no cons. As for detritus building up what do you think happens with sand. As for dead spots and build up of detritus come up with a long hose and siphon out when water change no big deal water crystal clear. Down side is no Nassarius didn't miss them much (nothing to clean) Main reason why people don't do it is the look as Liam mentioned Get pretty corals that way people dont even notice. I've seen your tank you got the pretty corals. Hard part is done what's the worst that can happen put sand back in.

PS the main reason I did it was the clams was making a mess here is a picture with almost no sand just a dust in some places till I did a water change and its all gone. Then I decided to put grey coast what reef in nature has grey sand? Good luck.

 

[president89]

Mine isn't a reef setup, but I have pairs of clowns in barebottom tanks and I can agree with the easiness cleanup. It also lets you know when your feeding too much, your fish don't like your food. I've got one set of clowns with some food chilling on the bottom. Easily cleaned up, and now I know to slow feeding.

 

[RiverReefer]

my only thing is this...in a properly put together reef tank isn't the bottom of the tank going to get coraline building really quickly...which in turn creates an ugly p.i.t.a. because now you have to razor scrape the bottom of the tank often...one thing doing the glass on the sides thats not so hard to reach...but having to be up to your shoulders in the tank weekly to scrape sux i would think....

ronnie i been considering going BB lately, how quickly did you take all of your sand out? i have about 2"....did you get any sort of cycle from the disturbance of the bacteria/sand?....how clean did you actually get it? is all the sand out or just most of it? ty...

 

[stevenp]

my only thing is this...in a properly put together reef tank isn't the bottom of the tank going to get coraline building really quickly...which in turn creates an ugly p.i.t.a. because now you have to razor scrape the bottom of the tank often...one thing doing the glass on the sides thats not so hard to reach...but having to be up to your shoulders in the tank weekly to scrape sux i would think....

ronnie i been considering going BB lately, how quickly did you take all of your sand out? i have about 2"....did you get any sort of cycle from the disturbance of the bacteria/sand?....how clean did you actually get it? is all the sand out or just most of it? ty...

Most welcome the growth of coraline on the bottom because it blends in with the rockwork.

Regarding the removal of the sandbed releasing nutrients, I'm setting up a temporary tank for all my livestock so I can safely remove my sandbed. I then plan to cover the entire system with black plastic so the rockwork can cook for a few months.

 

[snowmaker]

Most welcome the growth of coraline on the bottom because it blends in with the rockwork.

I would agree, but it is a huge consumer of Calcium and Carbonates. Just pointing out that adds or reactor outputs will have to be increased the more coraline is allowed to grow.
I tend to try and keep it scraped off all glass as it will out compete the corals for Ca and Carbs.

 

[stevenp]

I would agree, but it is a huge consumer of Calcium and Carbonates. Just pointing out that adds or reactor outputs will have to be increased the more coraline is allowed to grow.
I tend to try and keep it scraped off all glass as it will out compete the corals for Ca and Carbs.

You really think coraline on the bottom glass would make that much of an impact? Several people on RC have reported a rise in CA levels once the sandbed was removed.

The coraline encrusted back glass of my tank covers more square inches than the area of my bottom glass that isn't shaded by the rockwork. I currently have no problem maintaining CA levels in my tank and don't really anticipate much of a change in CA consumption when the transition to BB is complete.