The "How to go Barebottom thread."

[NoSchwag]

I have never used/seen an airstone skimmer so I might not be the best person to give advice, sorry.

 

[REEF-DADDY]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6564675#post6564675 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sig226
The reason I am asking this is because I am building an external DIY airstone skimmer with fine pore stones from aquatico. All the drains will go directly to this skimmer via gravity then to the sump.

Thus I have to recalculate the volume of the water this skimmer will hold to accomodate this additional drain. With the additional water volume comes the sizing/quantity of the stones and the airpump that goes with it.

Thanks

Sig

Check out the geo thread. Dgasmd had geo build a 6' airstone skimmer, he may be able to help

 

[sig226]

This isn't about the DIY skimmer actually. Its that mid drain that I wanted to have some opinion on.

Will I guess I will try it out and see if it helps or not. Will just have to recalculate the skimmer mixing chamber and the stones/airpump that goes with it. I will test the flow through the sump with this mid drain/horizontal overflow using tap water. And then maybe sprinkle a lot of detritus from my cooking container (after the swish and dish) and see how effective it is at removing them.

Another Question: I have been cooking my rocks for about 2 months now and I still see a lot of coralline algae.

What do you guys think if I just scrape them off when doing my water changes. The reason being, that these coralline algae are covering portions of the rock that may have phosphate inside them and no way for the bacteria to get there because of the coralline cover.

Thanks

 

[smokez01]

my thoughts after going bb,

my frags that i had in my tank are starting to encrust on my egg crate, lol?

uhm, some/most of them are still brown in color, i had a diatom bloom, i have about 11 astreas in my 25g, i really like how the water is clear

i jsut think my two seio 620's are not enough and i want to replace a 620 with a 1100, lol, then i would have over 100x the turn over rate, for some reason i like to see my polyps go nuts


the rock cooking is coming along great, its been 2 weeks i think, and ive noticed all the rock that had the hair algae, the hair algae is like shriviling up, and its kind of funy in a way, i have to w/c the bin tomorrow, but atleast i see how successful its coming

i just dont know how im going to stack my rock since this is a squareish/high tank instead of long

 

[SeanT]

Good to hear that it is coming along well.

 

[smokez01]

is it normal to have strands of hair algae here and there growing on the eggcrate? this is bugging me - i thought with all this clean water there would be NO algae whatsoever

Also, how long do you think it will take for my corals to get their colors back> im switching my XM 20k bulb today for a CVRL10k

 

[SeanT]

The eggcrate is leeching phosphates right now.
It will go away soon.

hth,
Sean

 

[john37]

do you guys use a refugium? is it BB too?

 

[SeanT]

During the "cooking" phase I kept my fuge online, just Chaeto though no sand.

 

[larrycivic]

i have a asm g3 on about 240 total water, and it is not cutting it....i am thinking about going beckett ,but i do not know anything about them.....can they sit inside the sump?
the dim. that i am working with are 12x14.....with a max height of 27....my water line is 10"......do i just need to stay with an asm design?

sorry but i dislike my asm, and want a different skimmer, and i am confused about skimmers

 

[elephen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6672241#post6672241 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by larrycivic
i have a asm g3 on about 240 total water, and it is not cutting it....i am thinking about going beckett ,but i do not know anything about them.....can they sit inside the sump?
the dim. that i am working with are 12x14.....with a max height of 27....my water line is 10"......do i just need to stay with an asm design?

sorry but i dislike my asm, and want a different skimmer, and i am confused about skimmers

You can go beckett if you wanted to. I run a Precision Marine Bullet-2 powered by a Pan World 150-PS and its insump. My main sump (which is way to small) is 15g and it fits perfectly.

I would recommend something like a MR-2/3 or Bullet-3, the Bullet-2 is rated for 250g and in the case of a BB tank, you definately want a skimmer that is mucho powerful.

 

[REEF-DADDY]

That ASM is underpowered for your tank. I am running a G6 on a 280 for perspective. Problem is they don't skim wet, which is part and parcel to bare bottom husbandry. I am currently looking into a beckett as well............

 

[elephen]

Sean-

Well I recently upgraded my old 75 SPS/SSB tank to a 120 BB SPS tank. I had rock cooking for 7 weeks and towards the end did not shed hardly any detrius at all, even when you dunked and swished them...

So I got the tank setup and I put 1 small rock from the old tank in my new system and low and behold guess what! It has HA. Now in all my years of reefing I have never experienced HA but its quite nasty looking stuff.

I have some STN going on with my caps and my acros have browned out pretty good. Nitrites are just a tad above 0 which I would account this to, along with I have losed 3 fish a week after the new tank was setup. My mandarin that was 3 years old (and ate frozen foods), a female lyretail anthias and a green chromis.

I'm running a 36w HO UV, ROWA and skimming the heck out of the tank with a Bullet-2 as stated above.

So far rock cooking is the way to go for sure. Just hope it doesn't start spreading... Think I should up my snail populations at all? Get 75 ceriths, 50 astreas, 2-3 mexican turbos and possibly an urchin?

 

[SeanT]

Is it HA or a really short greenish/brownish algae?

 

[elephen]

Well in some places it is short but mostly its 1/4-1/2" in length, blows with the current and is brownish but may have a slight slight hint of green.

 

[SeanT]

What is your cleanup crew?

 

[elephen]

Currently I have about 30-40 astreas if I had to take a guess and a dozen ceriths. I know I need to bump it up substantially, I would say 50-60 astreas and 80 ceriths, a few mexican turbos and possibly an urchin -- although they are bulldozers =D

 

[SeanT]

I would go to 85-90 astrea's and 160-170 cerith's.
You will be amazed at how quick it dissappears.

Sean

 

[elephen]

Hrm now time to find a place I can get a good deal on. Wish a LFS around here would cut deals but they won't, most still want almost $1 each which puts the cost way to darn much.

Any ideas?

 

[xcreonx]

I'm about to do this whole rock cookin', bare-bottom thing on my new 65g. Thanks SeanT for the great info! Makes it much easier!