Thinking about going BB

[Jake622]

I've read a lot of the debates about sand beds (swallow or deep) vs bare bottom. I currently have a SSB but was thinking about changing to bare bottom but wanted to get the opinions of those with FOWLs. I have a 350g FOWL currently stocked with a vlamingi tang, pair of maroon clowns, picaso trigger and a porcupine puffer. I'd like to get another tang as well as an eel in the future.

I would appreciate your thoughts and switching from a FOWL point of view and would love to see your BB pics as well.

Thanks!

 

[Recty]

I've read a lot of the debates about sand beds (swallow or deep) vs bare bottom.

I definitely dont recommend "swallow"ing a deep sand bed.

I went bare bottom on my 210 gallon and really liked that. It was so easy to clean, no waste ever built up. No need to siphon the sand ever, all in all I just really liked it.

 

[Jake622]

Yes, swallowing sand is an entirely different problem.

 

[deepblue68]

lmao. but serious iam thinking also about going bb with my trigger tank.

 

[Sonicblast12]

I use flooring tiles in all of my tanks and I love it. You can have the look of sand while having the ease of bare bottom. I just wipe them clean about once a week.

No concerns about overfeeding, the fish are able to get every scrap of food.

I thought the seams between the tiles would bother me, but I don't even notice them anymore. You can also remove one piece at a time and really scrub them clean without disrupting the whole tank.

 

[geaux xman]

i really like my BB. Clean as a whistle and I dont have a to do a thing to upkeep it.

the pellets that falls to the bottom, the fish gets to the food with ease too. not a single pellet gets uneaten.

Getting asked, "why dont you have sand" gets kinda old though.

<iframe width="853" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CEjkxk64tdE?hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[humaguy]

so glad to see this thread...have been mulling over the same issue...going to go bb on the huge tank when it gets here next week...

You are funny Recty!

 

[geaux xman]

so glad to see this thread...have been mulling over the same issue...going to go bb on the huge tank when it gets here next week...

You are funny Recty!

what are the dimensions?

i really wish i had went with something around in the 300g area, but too late now.

 

[humaguy]

120 x 36 x 36...ten a cor...

currently have a 250 and 125, but fowlr...

gonna keep the 250 as a qt and shut down the 125...

 

[humaguy]

both fowlr...

 

[namxas]

I must be in the minority, cuz I think no substrate looks like a LFS holding tank. Then again, most of my fish that aren't lionfish are bottom dwellers, even so, to me BB tanks just don't look "finished".

I dunno how much of an issue it is with tangs in the long term, but many of them ingest grains of sand to aid in breaking up vegetable matter, which is why many have lumpy-looking bellies.

JM .02.

 

[D5HP]

I must be in the minority.

Nope. I think BB tanks look like QTs...no offense to anyone here I know lots of people that love them.

I just feel like it seems way more unnatural and really draws out the 'fish in a glass box' look.

 

[humaguy]

I agree it does look odd, but am going to try it...
like the cleanliness associated wirth them...
the ones I have seen eventually become covered in macro algea...

 

[D5HP]

I once saw a tank's bottom that was completely covered in GSP. They eventually took everything out except two little pieces of rock and two kenya trees it looked like a little kids shoebox school project or something.

I think it was a small small tank though.

 

[geccles]

I just emptied my FW 125 for my move later this week and it looks really bare w/out the sand. I was thinking of going BB on my 180 FOWLR build but am having second thoughts. I've had BB tanks where I painted the underneath a sand color (probably similar to the tile idea above) so I may try that first. Another concern is getting coraline all over the bottom.

Would a thin layer of sand just get blown around by the powerheads or is there some kind of balance that can be created with the look of sand but no gunk buildup?

 

[namxas]

I once saw a tank's bottom that was completely covered in GSP. They eventually took everything out except two little pieces of rock and two kenya trees it looked like a little kids shoebox school project or something.

I think it was a small small tank though.

We know a guy who had a really pretty 180 reef, and he had a carpet of assorted zoanthids as a "substrate"...it looked pretty interesting.

Here's a pic of his setup as they were growing in:

 

[Supernova26]

If the sandbed is kept at 1" or so it should be pretty easy to keep clean. I personally do not like the BB look.

 

[Stumped]

I must be in the minority, cuz I think no substrate looks like a LFS holding tank. Then again, most of my fish that aren't lionfish are bottom dwellers, even so, to me BB tanks just don't look "finished".

I dunno how much of an issue it is with tangs in the long term, but many of them ingest grains of sand to aid in breaking up vegetable matter, which is why many have lumpy-looking bellies.

JM .02.

I don't know if you're in the minority. I personally hate the look of BB tanks as well. A sand bed (even a very shallow one) just ties the entire tank together in my opinion. No offense meant to the people in this thread going BB though, it's just not for me.