Barebottom tanks

[dots]

Yes I am at home on this long weekend thinking how best to improve my tank.

I have a lot of flow and want/need more. I have been following some of the SPS forum threads about BB tanks and using Starboard on the botom......

Tap Plastics has a simmilar HDPE plastic and I was considering it. However, I do want to retain the illusion of a reef, not just a glass box of rocks.

Has anyone gone BB around here, what have the results been for you?

I am thinking of going to the Starboard on the bottom to protect the glass and create that "illusion" with a sand colored one that is offered. Has anybody used that yet around here?

It just comes down to flow and sand, they don't mix.....

I was considering removing the sand and going BB for a while and then adding the Starboard later......Do you get use to the glass bottom?

 

[xia]

I don't know how you do it, but I know you can clump up your sand with too much alk or calcium. Just imagine taking it to the extreme and making it all one hard layer of rock. Then you can have as much flow as you want.

I've given some thought about making agrocrete walls for the back of tanks, but how about an agrocrete sandbed? Hmm ...

 

[dots]

Not a bad idea, I was just reading about that ceramic reef stuff....pretty cool looking. It would be neat to get a two or three piece design for that stuff to put in.....

I am discussing this in a thread on the SPS forum and am about five seconds away from pulling it out.



ANYONE WANT SOME GREAT CARIBSEA LIVE SAND......TRADE YOU FOR FRAGS........

 

[dots]

Decided to go Barebottom........

 

[plankton]

Went BB a couple of years ago and yes to can get insane flow through your tank and not kick up clouds of sand; but, BB just:

- doesn't look natural
- doesn't help buffer your water
- doesn't reflect light even if white because eventually it gets all covered in coraline algae.

That is not to say that if you have a glass tank you shouldn't add a protective layer on the bottom, since you should. And, true that a sand bed will trap some amount of detritus even with sand stiring critters, etc.

I ended up adding a shallow (1") sand layer on the bottom of my tank with large'ish '1mm-3mm' sand and am very happy with the result.

But, to each his/her own.

Scott

 

[josh holt]

i went bb on my 125 sps. it took awhile but i got used to it . now i have coraline algae growing on the bottom. i have about 50 lbs of sand in my fuge for buffering and collecting detritus. the best thing about having bb is no algae problems and the tank is easy to clean.

 

[plankton]

Josh - Good point. A remote sand bed slash refug is a good compromise.

Scott

 

[dots]

The buffering part is what confuses me. Is the sand bed with the agagorite (sp.) adding addition buffering to whatever sytem you are using,(two part or reactor), and you need to supply more with your supplementation. Or because there is no sand bed is the coralline has added a very large area it can now grow on and is sucking out all the buffer out while it is growing on the bottom?