A take on BB methodology.

SeanT

SeanT

Premium Member
During my usual perusal of RC I ran across this quote from Mr. Borneman.

EricHugo said:
Also, I have a whole ot of sdata I presented last month on a critical comparison between berlin, jaubert and ATS methods of reeefkeping on over 100 tannks an some 8-15 years of data - and the only tanks that fared wrost were the bare bottom ones - it was all the rage back in the early 1990's tilll we all realized that they were a maintenance nightmare, were sterile, unstable, required regular siphoning of detrtius. ...and I think I have even written a line on my book and n many articles. There's just smarter and easier ways, and it depends on what you want to do, what you like, etc. Me persionally - and you did ask, btw - I'd never run another bare bottomed reef in my life. I thought they looked hideous.
Click to expand...

Now perosnally, I like my BB tank.
I don't find it "sterile" by any means and I most certainly do not find it unstable.

Any other input, thoughts or opinions?

Sean
 
I love my bb systems and would never run anything else. The only thing I don't like is the unatural appearance of the bottom. I'm trying to resolve this by covering the starboard with encrusing monti's.
 
it was all the rage back in the early 1990's
Click to expand...

So were pumps that put out a whopping 200gph, wet/drys, air driven skimmers and a contest to see who could get the driest foam, etc etc LOL

Now I suppose since the rage is DSB's and algae filters, refugias, ROWAPHOS reactors, online stores that sell sand bed recharge critters, massive water changes to clean it all up if it heads south on you, .....

and no way to tell that it's not working right until you have algae problems or corals dying

Yep, that certainly solved that maintenance nightmare. :)
 
IMO.... I think the biggest hurdle to BB is preparation. If you do not set up a BB correctly at the begining you will see problems fairly quickly. What I mean by this is rock preparation, and skimming. These are two crucial areas. I had a SSB. The skimmer I had at that time worked fine. 0 nitrates for years. I removed my sand bed recently and didnt upgrade my skimmer. I figured I would do it later. Now I have a nitrate problem. You need to move the waste out of a BB quickly. The best way to do that is wet skimming with a powerful skimmer. Now I am in the process of upgrading my sump and skimmer. I just did everything backwards.

I believe a DSB/SSB allows for a little less husbandry. The trade off however is you have a potential time bomb sitting at the bottom of your tank. I never had problems with my SSB. When I removed it however there was zero life in it and several rocks had turned black. That would have exploded in my tank at some point.
 
SCARYBO,
You make a very good point.
And not to beat a dead horse, if people who make this transition actually clean up there rock then the water parameters are more stable sooner.
Sean
 
I fought the BB nitrate battle too... and lost :( I think it's a good way to run a tank... it just requires an extremely well though out and effective system, or it will fail. Maybe you guys who are so successful at it could start a really detailed thread on setting up a BB system. I found a lot of cheerleaders for BB and very few coaches :rolleyes:
 
PUGroyale said:
Maybe you guys who are so successful at it could start a really detailed thread on setting up a BB system. I found a lot of cheerleaders for BB and very few coaches :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I know I would be happy to do that.
And others should help out too.
Give me a few hours to finish some siphoning though.
Sean
 
PUGroyale said:
I fought the BB nitrate battle too... and lost :( I think it's a good way to run a tank... it just requires an extremely well though out and effective system, or it will fail. Maybe you guys who are so successful at it could start a really detailed thread on setting up a BB system. I found a lot of cheerleaders for BB and very few coaches :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

What did you end up doing Pug?. I was hoping to upgrade my skimmer and win the battle.
 
PUG if I remember correctly, your nitrates were 5-10.

Didn't you have a small DSB refugia hooked up too?
 
Bomber,

Any recent pics of your tank? Interested to see what it looks like after having been set up for a while now.

Thanks
 
SCARYBO said:
What did you end up doing Pug?. I was hoping to upgrade my skimmer and win the battle.
Click to expand...

Well... After 6 months of 40% water changes every three days, just to keep the nitrates under 5ppm, I gave up :rolleyes: Put in a SSB, DSB in fuge, DSB "in-a-bucket" in the sump. BTW, I was/am running an ASM G-3 [even by ER ratings it's rated for 3x my volume] on 60g total water volume. You run ZEOvit though don't you? You should have no worries :D j/k
 
I had a deep sand bed for 4 years in my 180 and also in my sump 9'' in my sump. The sand in the tank went bad I had to take it out it was a huge job and it smelled like you know what. The sand in the sump was not as bad. Now that the sand is all gone the tank never looked better. Running a HSA 1000 with a iwakie 70


stan
 
good points,

right now using BB why? because of sps, now I can run what ever flow I want without any issues with sand,

but as pointed out, it does cost more to run a BB and thats where I think many will fail, many want to cut curners, ect

they stated rage at 90's, well today we have better products, and better equipment and more more more info available to us, how much was internet an hour back them?

if done right with proper equipment, here comes the best part I like, it should in theory will work for ever, no time bomb, ect

also something else to point out, experts always disagree, I think if it were the other way around not much progress would get done :D

thx Bomber for your extensive knowledge you provides us free of charge, and countless others

sam
 
Bomber said:
PUG if I remember correctly, your nitrates were 5-10.

Didn't you have a small DSB refugia hooked up too?
Click to expand...

That is correct on fuge and nitrates. However, I went BB in fuge as well for at least the last 3 months. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against BB. I had problems making it work for me ;)

One thing I wish I would have tried but didn't occur to me while I was struggling... turn off my UV filter. You stated you run a UV so mine was running the whole time... I wonder if my tank was too sterile as Eric suggests after I yanked the SB. Perhaps if I'd shut it down the bacteria would have had an easier time of it? I doubt it though, SCARYBO doesn't use UV I imagine because of the ZEOvit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ffoott
Mantis Shrimp in a SPS tank = disaster?
Replies
4
Views
1K
mndfreeze
mndfreeze
HumbleFish
Disease eradication vs. Disease management (new)
Replies
3
Views
1K
ThRoewer
ThRoewer
L
Equipment questions for a returning reef keeper
Replies
2
Views
546
scattered
S
M
Taking over established tank questions
Replies
3
Views
286
WLachnit
WLachnit
K
Keannis's 30L Nuvo Fusion (aka Take 2, Ten Years Later)
Replies
0
Views
1K
Keannis
K
Back
Top