Bare Bottom Theory...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8830812#post8830812 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis Savant
Yeah, sure.

The browned out and had very little PE.
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Too much light and need more nutrients like Mark stated b4. How long is your photoperiod?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8830358#post8830358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MiddletonMark
Couldn't you just add nutrients to the tank by feeding more, without any livestock addition?
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Ditto
 
how often do you feed? And how much.


I'm up to a sheet of nori, and probably 8 cubes of food a day in my 58, and I dont even run BB. If you're running a big skimmer, and high flow, you really need to pump food into these tanks.
 
Dang. 8 cubes a day? I feed maybe 2 cubes a day in my 180 tops and a 1/4 sheet of Nori every 2 days.
 
hi travis...i have a 22g sps bb. yes i feed heavy all day, run skimmer only at night for a couple hours. i have similar bioload, two clowns, 6 line, two cleaner shrimp.

if i let things get a little too clean, i.e. not enough feeding, over skimming----->color loss.

its a balancing act like you said, a pita, puts hair on your chest. those nitrates can really creep up on you.

i do weekly h2o changes, dont dose. i test almost every other night in an effort to learn the tank...
 
Travis....I am definitely going to tag along with you on this because I myself have a similar setup and will be making it an sps/clam tank.... I would like to try a mixed reef with zoos and rics on one side but of course run carbon to avoid any chemical warfare. here's my gig...finished cycling and going to let it mature a bit before any additions but I do want to learn what to expect before getting there. It's a drilled 20 tall with internal overflow to a 10g sump.. same skimmer as you had as well and is working out great.

IMG_3371.jpg
 
very nice....super clean....

Travis I went back to some of your past threads....wanted to ask what ever happened to the copperband?
 
SN, I have large rocks on the bottom and smaller ones on top, no slipping problems. I do, however, have cutting board on the bottom and that does have some grip to it.

Miami, the CBB died of unknown causes after 2 months. He ate Mysis twice a day and was very healthy. Found him laying on the bottom one day.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8832298#post8832298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
Dang. 8 cubes a day? I feed maybe 2 cubes a day in my 180 tops and a 1/4 sheet of Nori every 2 days.
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You have to remember, I run an absolutely absurd skimmer, so I have to feed like this. (Run an 8" bodied Reef Octopus that pulls ~60scfh. An H&S 200-2x1260 would be comparable as far as size and air draw...on a 58g). It literally rips everything out of the water.


I had a kind of eureka moment when I went and saw the reef at Atlantis Marine World on long island. I was like "holy crap, this tank is filthy compared to mine...theres all sorts of junk floating around... but the corals look way better than mine..."

I read something a while back saying that 14lbs of zooplankton washed over the average meter of reef (either per day, or per hour, can't remember). These animals get a lot of food in the wild.



Corals love food, hate waste. You need to feed them, and clean up after them. I could probably feed significanly less if I woudl turn off my skimmer a couple hours a day, but I'm lazy.
 
If you want more flow and a less sterile tank why not add a fuge so that you still have an area which can make the water "dirty" but then go bb in your main tank so you can still have the flow.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8835148#post8835148 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Laakmann
If you want more flow and a less sterile tank why not add a fuge so that you still have an area which can make the water "dirty" but then go bb in your main tank so you can still have the flow.
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Because by doing that you loose control over what goes in the tank, you end up depending on a SB yet again. Skim the heck out of the water and feed alot.

BB is all about YOU controlling the tank, if something goes wrong you can be 99% sure it was the reefkeeper's fault.
 
Travis,

Even though your system is a year old?right? , it seems as though you have kept it so sterile that it still hasnt matured. No offense, i love the look you have going but it looks "dead" in there. I would recommend adding more life as well(ie more corals), some of the peices you have dont seem like they are supposed to have much color in the first place.

PS---dont feed 8 cubes in your tank------you will foul your tank.......i cant believe for a moment you feed that much in a 58 rich
 
I've got about 13 or 14 different frags/mini colonies of SPS in there, plus the five fish, pair of skunk shrimp and the clam. That's not a good bit of life for a 20 gallon tank?

The tank looks sterile because I clean it, I don't rely on snails to clean the glass, just the rocks. I use a CPR Lil'Chizler to clean all of the coralline and other algae off of the glass, I am a little OCD when it comes to clean glass lol.
 
What is there to fear from a sand bed? More filtration? why not overskim a DSB tank instead? then isnt it best of both worlds? thats what i do, im about double capacity skimming with my Euro-Reef RS180, and i have 0 ammo, rates, rites, phates, but i also get the benefit of DSB w/ pelenum in main tank, as well as DSB is fuge. Am i still "dependant" on a sand bed? i don't even know what that means. It just seems to me that removing a sand bed just takes away one more level of filtration.

Now if you are talking about aesthetics, then BB is the only way. You cannot keep a DSB looking clean without making it inneffective IME. Also if you are one who believes that corals like it best in a blender, with 8000000X turnover rate, then BB as wel is the only way to go. BUT filtration wise, no way it wins out over DSB.


Myself? I prefer the natural look (minus nuisance algae :) ). and enjoy the benefits of the DSB.
 
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