Bare bottom alternatives

ReefCowboy

ReefCowboy

New member
Im on the fence about substrate. All reef tanks this far had sand for me. I love the look and it seems more natural to the tank animals. Im about to go for a new SPS only build and plan on keeping this tank for hopefully 10+ years.

Sand bottoms look suspicious after 2 years as they get clumpy, dirty, with colored patches... syphon cleaning is also unrealistic since every spot on the sand eventually gets covered by coral, so maintenance gets difficult.

On the other hand, bare bottom would be the answer, but I cant stand the look. Unless it is an older system with grown chalices on the bottom glass, it looks very unappealing to me. Controlling nutrients seem much easier with BB's though.

What alternatives do I have? How are starboards? Anyone can chime in some experiences? I believe I saw someone who attached sand to a starboard making it seem like a sand bottom, but am not sure how well would that work?
 
Starboard is just a brand of HDPE plastic (cutting board material)..
It (or just regular HDPE plastic) is a good material to put down on a bare bottom tank if you want..
 
Thank you for the input, I was reading around and found ideas such as "faux bare bottom" where people would mix epoxy with sand making a sandy glue, which although interesting seems like too much work.

People seem to place a bead of silicone around the edges of the starboard to stop detritus from getting under the board, which doesnt seem like a bad idea.

I also was interested reading about coating the starboard top surface with silicone and sprinkling sand over it; soon it would be covered with coraline and the look seemed very natural to me.
I might go with that option, im kind of over regular sand bottom.
what are your thoughts?

Heres the fake resin mix...they use a mold covered with wax paper then pour the resin and mix sand. The product can even be cut to fit the bottom. Looks pretty awesome. I would probably still silicone the edges to block detritus.



 
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They make different colors of starboard. I put black starboard on the bottom of my tank and put black silicon around the edges to stop stuff from getting under the starboard. However, I am 100% sure that the board isn't 100% sealed down but at least the majority of the detritus doesn't get under there.

colors of starboard: http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/king_starboard/526 & http://boatoutfittersblog.com/why-to-use-king-starboard-marine-board/


Not the best video in the world of my tank but you can see the outcome
 
I've seen a few tanks with the outside bottom painted to help with the illusion of sand.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Sand beds aside, isn't Coralline algae going to cover up pretty much anything you put down there anyways? The first six months might be ok, but once this sets in keeping this from taking over will be quite the task.
 
Bare bottom tank only look sterile for a shot time. Non-encrusting corals help break up the bottom too.
 
Any paint or bottom material will get covered in Coraline - just more to scrape or it ends up looking even less natural.
 
The bare bottom methodology can be run with sand, it's just easier with bare bottom. Careful placement of high flow will still result in little to no waste setting, which is the goal of BB. Using a large grain sand like Seaflor Select helps keep the sand on the bottom despite high flow, and adding a diamond goby helps get any of the waste which does settle back into the water column where it can be filtered out. Just use enough sand to cover the bottom aesthetically.

I have run my tanks this way for about a decade, I jokingly refer to my tank as "barebottom with sand". I have broken down my DT multiple times due to moves and the water left at the bottom of the tank after draining it is clean enough to re-use.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Good input. So I guess starboard might be more work than benefit since the bottom glass will get somewhat dirty/ covered soon anyways?
 
I ran our tank bare bottom for 2 years The coraline was so thick it started flaking off in big chunks and looked horrible.. The bottom is painted black. I eventually started adding sand back into the tank and how have about 1-2 inches depending on areas..


Its a lots of work to keep it clean . to me the coraline on the bottom glass did not look natural, In my tank anyway. the epoxy and sand panel seems interesting to me
 
Starboard gets covered in coraline too. The coraline can get rough and trap debris if you let it go for a while. You can scrape the glass - starboard is not that easy.
 
The starboard acts as a cushion if rocks were to fall and provides a little more resistance so the rocks don't move around when you have your hands in the tank.
 
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