Sand only, no liverock?
- Thread starter Cody Ray
- Start date
reefnetworth
Premium Member
lots do for fish only tank. most of them last as many years as the keeper wants. adequate filtering and protien skimmer. REEF-ON!!!
firefishbrain
New member
I personally think it can't be done at an efficient level. Liverock is a crucial part of the bacterial process, it holds the bacteria. Besides it would look tacky to put a candy cane coral on a porcelein castle...
It might be OK if you swaped out mechanical filtration (bioballs and the like) for Liverock.
What is it that you plan on doing? this is just very curious, no ones ever thought of it besides FO tanks
It might be OK if you swaped out mechanical filtration (bioballs and the like) for Liverock.
What is it that you plan on doing? this is just very curious, no ones ever thought of it besides FO tanks
Cody Ray
New member
I wasn't thinking of attaching corals to porcelein castles, though that would look interesting. I was thinking more along the the lines of
There really isn't much of a reef structure, just some protruding rubble that the corals have attached to. Sand itself can be very porous and has a ton of surface area for bacteria to grow on providing a good deal of biofiltration. Running a reverse undergravel filter would also help prevent the build up of detritus. Think of all the empty space for the corals to grow into
I think it would look good, we went snorkeling in Jamaica and a large portion of the reef was like the picture you have shown!! Pretty awesome IMO!
The sandy bottom was covered in Zoa's and then there were a few boulders here and there and other coral colonies thriving on them.
The sandy bottom was covered in Zoa's and then there were a few boulders here and there and other coral colonies thriving on them.
Travis L. Stevens
New member
ChinChek, it's perfectly feesible. Of course, a low bioload would be mandatory. The sand, if deep enough, should be more than enough biological filtration. There are all sorts of critters that you can use for a cleanup crew as well. This would also open up the opportunity to house some really cool specimens such as jawfish, sand eels, pistol shrimp, shrimp gobies, sand sifting gobies, so on and so forth.
Flatlander
Premium Member
Why not install a plenum and 4in. of larger crushed coral from the 2mm to 5mm size. One of the plenum system failures was the use of to much live rock on it.
We once discussed setting up a tank like that, with no liverock and attaching sps frags to the sides of the tank & overflows. The Jaubert type bottom also gives plenty of bio filtration, so the lack of liverock for that purpose should be nil. Of course fish have no place to hide until coral growth gives some.
We once discussed setting up a tank like that, with no liverock and attaching sps frags to the sides of the tank & overflows. The Jaubert type bottom also gives plenty of bio filtration, so the lack of liverock for that purpose should be nil. Of course fish have no place to hide until coral growth gives some.
Travis L. Stevens
New member
Good idea, but with crushed coral substrate, you can't achieve the look of the picture that was posted 
I think it would be way cool if there were a tank with a huge foot print, like 10 by 4 at least, to cover the bottom with sand and instead of piling live rock in the back like a normal person make piles of it in the back and middle that are really spread out. That would be some cool aqua scaping and it would allow so much room to grow for the corals.
Its also natural 2, look at Tahitian lagoons and I guess some caribean ones
Its also natural 2, look at Tahitian lagoons and I guess some caribean ones
Just a thought... how about one lone rock sitting in the middle of a sand filled tank with an amazingly large solitary acro colony on it?
Brett
Brett
Similar threads
