Barebottom and NPS

[nemosworld]

Is it poosible to have a full blown nps system with a barebottom reef?
thinking of making my 40 breeder a nps system, but i'm still doing my homework. would it be better to add sand? and should it be a dsb?
I do have a remote fuge with caulerpa and chaeto. as well as sand and live rock.

 

[curlykid]

first of all, you will need an over-rated skimmer for nps because they require a lot of food. so if you have that, then go bare-bottom, i don't see an issue.

 

[nemosworld]

almost forgot about this, yeah i was figuring i would have to up the skimmer, I think when i'm ready i will add sand, wife hates the BB look, she reminds me everyday, says my 20 long looks better than the 40, she does not like the free floating detritus in the water.

 

[curlykid]

haha, she'll get over it!

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

If you're willing to do constant maintenance to keep the bottom clean with all of the feeding (a good flow pattern with intermittent random flow would also help), then I don't see why a barebottom wouldn't work. There does tend to be a lot of fauna on the substrate in NPS tanks, due to the availability of food, and I would imagine there would be less of that with a barebottom. However, there's no easy way to predict what the overall effect would be without that fauna. One thing I can predict is that waste will build up very quickly, and if you let it sit, you're going to have potential H2S timebombs; this I have experienced.

 

[nemosworld]

I do have a remote fuge, adding sand Will not kill me, I prefer to keep the corals alive than kill them over preference. Ok, typing on the phone is annoying, will pick this up later.