Bare Bottom Question

[nereef]

For those of you who don't use a substrate, how do you keep algae from growing on the glass? do you have to razor blade it? do you just let it grow?
do you use a background for under the tank?

 

[daninct]

I guess it would be the same as what you would do for the sides/wall? I razor or use the blad on the kent tool/scraper. Glass, of course.

 

[watson3]

Not to hog, or answer my own question, but why no substrate? Triggers?

 

[nereef]

i was throwing around the idea for a tank that i take care of. Daninct, i'm confused. Do you have a bare-bottom tank?

 

[kpk]

Hey NEreef barebottom is awesome. I have been running a BB for over a year and a half and love it. Key is to have good cleanup crew, and good flow to keep detritus lifter, or just siphon it out. As for keeping it clean it shouldn't take much just let it go. Mine is almost covered in coraline and that makes for a good look. In my acrylic tank it only took 1-2 months to almost be covered. You will enjoy it IMO if not through in some clean sand!

 

[teen]

try increasing the flow so less stuff can settle on the bottom, what size skimmer on what size tank?

 

[nereef]

thanks for the info, kpk.
teen, the tank is an extremely overstocked and crowded messed up situation. it is a 90gal aggressive tank with a crappy seaclone skimmer that pulls nothing out.
the stock list(yikes):
volitan lion, snowflake eel, panther grouper, spotted grouper, flame hawk, yellow-tail damsel
nothing on or in this tank was my decision, and i'm trying to fix the situation. the tank obviously has algae, pH, alk, nitrate issues.
my plans include: trading the volitan for fuzzy dwarf, pulling both groupers, adding a dwarf angel, different skimmer, adding a sump, and possibly going bare-bottom.
any other ideas would be appreciated.

 

[jon321]

IMO once you pull the volitan and both groupers, which are like 90% of the bioload, the problems are going to be drastically reduced if not eliminated. I wouldnt worry about bare bottom, although giving the substrate a good vacuum is probably necessary to get things under control again. A better skimmer and a sump would do wonders and in comparison, removing the substate would be a moot point.
Jon

 

[nereef]

thanks for the response, jon. i was thinking that the tank would be easier to keep clean with no substrate. adding more of a cleanup crew is also an option that would keep the sand clean. maybe i will pull the three fish, add the two new ones, do a couple of large water changes, switch out the skimmer first, and see how that goes.

 

[kpk]

Also depending on how old the sand/tank is the sand may just be completely slapped full of phosphate, nitrate etc. I say take the water out, give the rock a good scrubbing, take the tank outside and was that crap and sand out of it. Make it look good again w/o barebottom!

 

[tx reef]

If you want a smooth, bare bottom just shave it with a razor......

 

[teen]

yea, i bet once you get rid of the heavy bioload the algae will die down. also, a barebottom tank usually means frequent water changes, like weekly, and heavy skimming since there is no deep sand bed to house bacteria. and a lot of flow to keep anything from settling on the bottom.

 

[tx reef]

Originally Posted by TX Reef
If you want a smooth, bare bottom just shave it with a razor......

I guess this will work on the tank, too....

 

[renogaw]

i'd say paint the outside bottom of the tank, like you would do for a QT. mine is a nice dark ocean blue

 

[jmick]

I recently upgraded from a 55 to a 125 and have gone bb in the new display while keeping the DSB in the 55, which is now the fuge. The main reason for doing this is that we are planning to move in the spring and I do not want to have to deal with removing the sand bed and I’m going with a very high flow for my sps. I’ve been rather lucky to have coralline cover the majority of the bottom of the tank (only took about 2 months) and it looks alright, although I do prefer the look of a sand more. Also, it seems no matter how high my flow is or how many times I mess with the pattern I still have detritus that builds up and needs to be siphoned out. It’s a lot more maintenance then I would have guessed and with the way my rock is laid out it can be rather challenging to siphon all of it out. I am considering putting back in a DSB and worrying about moving it next spring. Then again, I do need to upgrade my skimmer (aqua-c pro), I think with a better skimmer I might have less detritus build up.

 

[v-lioness]

If you do decide to go BB and if this is a 90g glass tank, put something down on the bottom just in-case a rock falls. In my 90g I have large slate tiles (3) from HD, since slate is a nonporous material it will not hold any detritus, easy to syphon.
I had sand in my 90g for a few years, I have been BB for 3 years now in my 300g and love it, I did not find the water changes to increase as a matter of fact it is much easier to do a water change, just syphon the bottom and replace or top-off if you do this weekly, or just syphon through the regular water changes.
Also if going BB pile the rock so there are crevices to reach threw and under when syphoning. This was my biggest fall back when I started BB, How to place the rock for easy syphoning, I had it to heavy on the bottom so it was tough to reach certain areas. I have also seen where round PVC was cut up (1-2 inch high) set down with a piece of egg crate on top and the rock piled from there, everything is up off the bottom for easy cleaning.
Kaye

 

[nereef]

thanks, folks.