SteveHash-fish20 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 just cause im in the beginning stages of upgrading and deciding what im going to do. id like to post a thread about sand beds to get feedback from our local forum members and see what you all think, the whys, the do's, the dont's, and personal experiences. the more i read it seems to me that anybody that goes bare bottom never goes back, has anybody on this forum gone back? and why if so. i thought the bare bottom would take the natural look away from the tank, but after all the tank threads ive looked at that have bare bottoms it looks a lot more cleaner and the corals seem to be thriving. LMK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Re_Run Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Have tried it before.. Seemed to be a lot more work maintaing the water quality for me any ways. more equipment in the sump area to maintin that set up but if you can pull it off It's also one of my more favorite looks. In mine set up a larger area in my sump for a mud and algea area to remote help with keep water parm. under control and did more frequent water changes. but over all loved it.. If you have the extra time and don't A little more work would recomend you try it for a while you. If i doesn't work add a sand bed later (kida a pain). But would give it a shot to see it right for you.. might limit some of you fish and coral selection though. check this link out might help you to decide.. breif run down on the pros and con.. ect http://blog.aquanerd.com/2009/05/barebottom-aquarium-setups-sandless.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate213 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 I saw a build thread where the guy put down a very thin layer of sand and put down resin or some clear coating over it. It looked like the tank had a sand bed, but was essentially BB. I can't seem to find the thread again. I believe it was on RC. I like the cleanness of BB tanks, but not how the bottom looks after it gets all coated with coralline algae. If the appearance thing could be fixed, I would also consider going that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhand Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 ive never tried it but i dont think that i ever could i just love all the critters that grow in sand and the way sand looks also i enjoy many fish that need sand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 i like them both but a heads up is you generaly want to go with higher flow corals and animals so that you can have a high flow tank this way you dont always have crap settle out on the bottom because if you dont you will be siphoning out small unsightly amounts of debree every few days.suspended particles to be caught by the skimmer and sock or particle filter are going to help alot for a bare bottom tank since you wont have the same micro fauna as you normaly would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 well now that i think about it i tend to like the tanks that have substrate not only visual effect but as stated before about the animals benifit.if its only corals than i suppose it may not be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 LC Scott has no sand bed at the moment and can't wait to get it back in. The bare bottom tank is nice, but it is hard to keep the bottom clean enough to look nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Personally, I like to look of a 1-2" sand bed. I also think it's important to keep the sand stirred. I have plenty of sand sifting snails. I'm a big fan of Nassarius Vibex. They are excellent at picking up any leftover meaty foods that end up on the sand bed, and they're constantly stirring the sand around. Between the nassarius snails and my pistol shrimp, detritus never really gets a chance to build up. One exception is under the MP10, and I vacuum that section regularly with water changes. Bare bottom can look really nice, but I don't know that it's all that much less maintenance. It's just different. IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Personally, I like to look of a 1-2" sand bed. I also think it's important to keep the sand stirred. I have plenty of sand sifting snails. I'm a big fan of Nassarius Vibex. They are excellent at picking up any leftover meaty foods that end up on the sand bed, and they're constantly stirring the sand around. Between the nassarius snails and my pistol shrimp, detritus never really gets a chance to build up. One exception is under the MP10, and I vacuum that section regularly with water changes. Bare bottom can look really nice, but I don't know that it's all that much less maintenance. It's just different. IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 From my research the bb berlin method allows for more water flow without stirring stand keeping any debre suspended in the water column to be filtered out. Requires cleaning of bottom regulary but seems like your overall water quslity would be better as long as you do regulsr maintenance, as fir sand bed like others said you miss out on some micro fauana etc and wrasses need sand to bed down in same with your goby and ifbyou got pistol shrimp. You could make up for lack of micro fauana with a dsb section in sump or refugium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHash-fish20 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 yeah, the reason i would do BB and want to is for high flow, i was going to do more LPS but im starting to think lots of sps, and a couple clams, with scolys and brains, acans, and chalices, i like lps frags more but colonies seem to always just brain out and chalices are always nice, (fav coral) but i love when sps grows out, and i want to do zeovit but it is pricey and from the research BB is the closest thing to zeo, i mean its not zeo but the goal is to keep the nutrients as low as possible. i mean im planning on buying a external dart/ or snapper. with two controllable tunze and/ or maybe a wave box, im also looking to get a sea swirl or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I ended up doing a bb on my 120 because of the amount of flow i have going in the system. I do employ a remote dsb attached to my sump for nitrate removal. It works great, no detectable nitrates. Remote dsb is a 5 gallon bucket full of fine grade sand filled about 4" from the top with a maxijet 500 providing a slow water movement over the top of the sand. Sand it kept in the dark to prevent algae growth So far system has been up and running over 4 years this way with great SPS and LPS growth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 The maxijet is in bucket or runs water to bucket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Re_Run Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 When I had mine set bb it seemed at least for me there was more work involved but then again maybe it didn't do it right.. algea removal was more of an issue on the bottom right around the bottom of the rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Maxijet pumps water from sump to a media reactor with carbon and phosphate remover then into the bucket VIA bulkhead, then another bulkhead on opposite side back into other end of sump. I use a piece of plastic in bucket to divert the water flow some so it doesn't go from one hole right out the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Can i get pics ima copy that fpr sure cheap amd effective. Ive been thinking about doing it off my drain but off carbon reactor is great idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHash-fish20 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Maxijet pumps water from sump to a media reactor with carbon and phosphate remover then into the bucket VIA bulkhead' date=' then another bulkhead on opposite side back into other end of sump. I use a piece of plastic in bucket to divert the water flow some so it doesn't go from one hole right out the other.[/quote'] Pictures?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasasah Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 hmmmm. I might try this, but i'm an over doer so I would most likely use a 55 gallon bucket Sent from Samsung Galaxy SII Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.