Bare bottom?

[saltyliving]

Mangrove swamp biotopes, and the life they support, require high nutrient levels. SPS, or shallow coral reef biotopes, require low nutrients. It's kinda hard to maintain both high and low nutrients in the same little closed system. If you want both biotopes, why not separate the two systems so that you can give the critters living in each biotope what they need to flourish without jeopardizing the health of the critters in the other biotope?

From what i experienced and what i have researched. The low nutrients will slow the growth but not effect the overall health. I have had 7 mangroves in a pico with low nutrients. The mangroves grow slowly as the snatch up what nutrients are in the tank. Im phos has gone and stayed non detectable and my nitrates have gone from 20 to 2.5 and have stayed there a while.

Back on the BB part if i did decide to go with a mangrove tope. Instead of DSB what about LR rubble in that part.

I am excited to go BB but just want to think thing through.

 

[paullisa51708]

ewwww ricordia tooo man i didnt think of that man i cant wait!!!

 

[R33f3r]

Black starboard looks better than white, but it's all the same when coralline begins to cover it, thus said BB is the way to go in any reef tank imo. I love the scientific look of it lol. :wildone:

 

[826 moto]

mine is bare bottom and i got alot of flow to keep things from settling but i do get some stuff settling under my rocks

but i like it so far and looks cleaner

 

[WmTasker]

Black starboard looks better than white, but it's all the same when coralline begins to cover it, thus said BB is the way to go in any reef tank imo. I love the scientific look of it lol. :wildone:

I am getting ready to set up a new 40 breader. I am torn between white and black starboard. Do you have a pic of black star board in a reef?

 

[wampuscat]

Here is a little bare bottom action......

Good random water movement, an efficient "wet skimming" skimmer and feed four to five times a day......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsOtKiSYsWI&NR=1

 

[zencakd]

I'm not so experienced as some of you but here is my opinion nobody mentioned yet:

1) if natural processes in your aquarium are capable to process a bio load in long term (let say more than 5 years), you can go with DSB

2) if natural processes in your aquarium are not able to process a bio load, stay with BB.

If you setup proper DSB (like Dr. Shimek proposes) it is just a function of total bioload per water volume.

Just my opinion :bum:

David

 

[Machupicchu]

Does anyone use a gravel vac anymore?

 

[rivoth]

A gravel vac is fine if you go with a shallow gravel bed. It's just that gravel is pretty much a decorative only choice. Harder to clean than a bare bottom, and it can't provide the benefits af a fine grained deep sand bed.

 

[p stegmaier]

does anyone use a remote DSB with or without rock and a cryptic zone filter as well. I would like to see some pictures and opinions on this

 

[E.intheC]

I just took the sand out of my 90. Good times, lol.

 

[barjam]

To me, the point of a reef tank, or any type aquarium for that matter, is to try to recreate a little slice of nature in your house. So yeah, I always use a sandbed. Bare bottom tanks might allow for higher flow, easier removal of detritus, etc. But they tank ends up looking more like a science experiment than a little cube of water plucked straight out of the ocean. We all know this hobby is half science and half art, but IMO the science part should be hidden away from the main display as much as possible. :beer:

When I go scuba diving I see the corals high enough up in the rocks that I don't really see any sand (not always the case of course). I am replicating that look. Also my tank I'd an in wall at (standing) eye level. Unless I am standing really close to the tank I can't see the bottom anyhow.

After converting to bare bottom it took and entire year for the rock to stop shedding and for all the nasty stuff to come out. Sand tanks are pretty dirty.

 

[JCE1980]

I went BB on my reef 135dt. I painted the underside with sand color texture paint.
And it looks beautiful with 250lbs of rock stacked high

The paint is pealing in a couple spots from me cleaning my skimmer grazing it a couple times.
I might cut some plexi, paint it and secure it under the glass eventually.
I do wonder what im missing not having a sand bed though.

 

[JohnnyB in SD]

The only thing I'm missing after taking out my sand bed is a filthy bottom full of nitrates & phosphates.

 

[brob22]

i almost always use sand
last time i went bare bottom i got sent to the principles office for moonin my teacher

 

[acronautical]

When I set up my current 150 gallon sps/lps tank four + years ago, I made the terrible mistake of rinsing and transferring the sand from my old 55 gallon into the new tank. I battled dinoflaggelates and cyanobacteria without end....until I systematically vacuumed out all of the sand over the course of about six months. FINALLY, this system seems to be able to complete the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle! My corals, BUT ESPECIALLY THE CORALLINE ALGAE, are really taking off and looking happy. I have to attribute these changes to a reduction in phosphate and nitrate. I will never go back to sand.

 

[geaux xman]

i get a lot of criticism for not having any sand, but i wouldnt have any other way.

 

[Reef_Bug]

One big advantage with a bare bottom tank is that you will never pick up a bit of grit with your magnet cleaners and scratch the glass.

 

[Gandolfe]

Does having an 1 3/4" sandbed underneath plexiglass count as a bare bottom. the sand is to support the plexi,cover plumbing and with the way it filled in the sides looks like a 2" sandbed but has bare plexi to put my rocks on. the only spots where anything can get under the plexi is in the corners and around plumbing. Think this will work or be a problem in the future?

 

[E.intheC]

Does having an 1 3/4" sandbed underneath plexiglass count as a bare bottom. the sand is to support the plexi,cover plumbing and with the way it filled in the sides looks like a 2" sandbed but has bare plexi to put my rocks on. the only spots where anything can get under the plexi is in the corners and around plumbing. Think this will work or be a problem in the future?

Do you have a picture of this? I'm curious to see what it looks like.

If you haven't set it up yet, I wouldn't, IMO.. the plexi will more than likely shift and warp. Plus, I'd imagine it would look pretty obvious that 'something' was on top of the sand. It's also likely the sand will become filled up with water and detritus, with no flow to get anything out.