After the Crash, my bare bottom tank

bill109

bill109

Active Member
hey everyone, i started a bare bottom tank after my complete 90 gal crash from a defective stealth heater.
here is what it looked like before..

and now.. =( its filled and has been for almost a week. i filled it on the 11th

i am kind of expecting a recycle but was wondering if after 5 days with little to no ammonia the rock is still covered with the benficial bacteria and macro inverts. i took out and tossed all the sand and put back in my 70 lbs of lr. i let the lr sit for about hour and a half some what dry but kept it wet with a turkey baster from time to time. do you think that since the rock that has been in a tank for 3.5 years could be mature enough to prevent a cycle i have never ran a tank without sand before.

any experience with this?
-bill
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
hopefully marineland will be writing me a check for the 1500$ worth of livestock my lfs quoted me for. it has happend before and they have written out checks to people for amounts this high.
i willl be using this thread a a re build thread..
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I went and got a titanium heater. I think our rock is fine but give it the time to cycle anyway, just to be sure...why rush. Keep the before and after pictures as proof of the kind of loss you suffered. You don't intend to keep it without sand do you?
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3287738

I went and got a titanium heater. I think our rock is fine but give it the time to cycle anyway, just to be sure...why rush. Keep the before and after pictures as proof of the kind of loss you suffered. You don't intend to keep it without sand do you?
i bought a fluval heater since my lfs did not have any titanium ones with a inline controller.
i should of spent the 100$ or whatever it is to make sure it doesnt happen again.
all my trates, and trites are at absolutle zero. my amm. is at .1 to a 0. its real close inbetween. i plan to keep it bare bottom yes. i did this for 2 reasons..
i am reloacting in under a year. i dont want to spend anotber 100$ on sand and then stirr it all up again and have another huge cycle lol.
my 2nd reason, i wanted to try a a bare bottom tank. i have seen a ton of them and they look nice. i will keep it this way untill i move. i will add one fish if any to this just to see something other than all the coral. i really hope what i salvaged pulls through.. i have another close to 1000$ in livestock in recovery in a spare 90 on the floor next to this tank. i also am in progress of filling up a 5 gal bucket of coral skelaton.. its almost filled. =(
i have documented this all to marineland so hopefully they too come through.
-bill
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by bill109
http:///forum/post/3287744
i bought a fluval heater since my lfs did not have any titanium ones with a inline controller.
i should of spent the 100$ or whatever it is to make sure it doesnt happen again.
all my trates, and trites are at absolutle zero. my amm. is at .1 to a 0. its real close inbetween. i plan to keep it bare bottom yes. i did this for 2 reasons..
i am reloacting in under a year. i dont want to spend anotber 100$ on sand and then stirr it all up again and have another huge cycle lol.
my 2nd reason, i wanted to try a a bare bottom tank. i have seen a ton of them and they look nice. i will keep it this way untill i move. i will add one fish if any to this just to see something other than all the coral. i really hope what i salvaged pulls through.. i have another close to 1000$ in livestock in recovery in a spare 90 on the floor next to this tank. i also am in progress of filling up a 5 gal bucket of coral skelaton.. its almost filled. =(
i have documented this all to marineland so hopefully they too come through.
-bill

I would put a dark cloth under the tank, I read a plain glass bottom confuses the fish for some reason...
. It would help with the looks for sure.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
yeah, i could imagine. when its filled, it looks like a mirror. its filled and everything. ill do my best to black it out but im not sure it will work. maybe ill go buy 20lbs of LS and just spread it lightly around the rock.. i have never heard of this, but i have seen it happen with freshly cleaned glass walls in the tank.
 
ryancw01

ryancw01

Member
+1. It actually scares the fish too because they never feel secure and think that something can come up from underneath the glass and grab them. I read that when I built a QT tank.
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3287748

I would put a dark cloth under the tank, I read a plain glass bottom confuses the fish for some reason...
. It would help with the looks for sure.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Those pics break my heart, I'm still crying over your monti on the left

good luck with the re-build, and I will surely be following it
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
wow! i couldnt imagine if that happened to me. that tank was nice! when did all this happen? i must have missed it if you posted. hopefully some of your coral will pull through.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
about to post pics of the tank now.. i did save some stuff. but something will never be replaced. it took 3 yrs for things to look they way they did. that growth is unreplaceable.
my tank crashed due to the heater on july 9. i emptied it, set up a new tank on the 11th. (same tank, just drained, cleaned and re set up) this took about 72 hours. yes 72 hours. i slept less hours than i worked to rebuild this.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Left side (of course my huge Neon GSP wont open)

RIGHT

these. im not sure if they are snowballing down the hill to dead, or will pull through..
1)

2)
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
last ones.
these flaming hornets, or fruit loops? pulled through with the pinks

Dead pink millie



 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
anyone care to see some pics?! i do lol
the tank came along a little bit. still havent heard back from the company.. go figure.
any way, i hooked up with a buddy and we bought a couple wholesale orders for our tanks and i got some nice things.
Black Graphite Lotus Eaters. my personal fav.. black with green edges.

White-grey/aqua wizards.

firecrakers

Favia
[/QUOTE]
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
How are you liking the bare bottom? Finding that detritus collects in one spot for removal? Have you increase the flow in the display?
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3294783
How are you liking the bare bottom? Finding that detritus collects in one spot for removal? Have you increase the flow in the display?
i went and added like 12 lbs to my bottom of the tank. it makes a nice thin even coating over the bottom of the tank. its like almost covering the whole bottom
its not exactly a bare bottom but i have noticed that i can crank the flow up a little and see very little sand flying around.
the problem i had with the BB was the look of new green algae on the bottom glass of your tank. it bugged me
 
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