Bare Bottom Reef Tank?

sco999

sco999

Member
I am starting a 38 gallon reef tank with 29gallon sump/fuge, and 75lbs of LR. I was wondering if there is anyone out there running a bare bottom display tank. I am going to use LS in my fuge, but wanted to go bare bottom in my main tank for simplicity, and maintence. Is this a "no no"?
Any thoughts or comments?
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
BB reef tanks are really catching on ..... although I don't have one, if done right they really look good. I don't see a problem with them. :D
 
beachlife

beachlife

New Member
No bare bottom tanks are fine....
Some time fish waste gets trapped in the sand and if left un-noticed it can decopose and fowl your water.....
I ran my tank (29gal) bare bottom for a while but I eventually wanted sand for my crabs... Some people are against BB tanks because they look "unnatural" but I have seen some really nice bare bottom tanks... I personally like the look of live sand..
And I'm sure some one will probably disagree with me on this but if you want to go BB do it!
Just my opinion...
john
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
As a matter of fact I have a bb 29 gal and I think it is WAY better than when I had the sand in it. I was having a terrible cyano prob with the sand and since i went bb i am able to put more lr in the tank and the fish and corals really seem to love it. I also have about 70 lbs in it with no sump.:yes:
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
I am BB. I love it. No more crud in the sand, no more sand blowing on the corals, no more cyno problems, ect. You can run all the flow you want.
Go for it.
 
bergamer

bergamer

Active Member
I love my deep sand bed,
to keep it clean is so easy, hearing all these complaints
all you have to do is deep grate the sand weekly and everything that is trapped down there comes up and into the tank then cleaned up.
if you do it weekly, you will not have any nitrate spikes or any other harmful effects
 
verde_ad

verde_ad

Member
I think both bb and sand have there good and bad qualities. I think though if you are going to go BB, you shouldn't have any sand in your system. The idea is that you can run a lot of flow and skim out all the junk. If you have a fuge/sump with sand in it, you defeat the purpose of BB. JMHO
AJ
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
well if you have a fuge why dont you run it with mud. I would think the mud would be a great medium for microscopic critters. and if you are going to have a fuge then go for it. I could see why you wouldent have it in a display tank though.:yes:
 
verde_ad

verde_ad

Member
If you want to read a really good (and really long) thread on BB drop me a e-mail and I will send you the link. It happens to be on another board, so I can't link from this site.
 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
dburr. Should I run bare bottom in my fuge as well?
Well, it is up to you. I took out all my sand. I did save a 5 gal bucket full though. I may put it in my fuge. It does help in some ways and down there it will be very easy to swap it out if I needed to. I was debating on taking out the DSB for along time. What pushed me is the dang pyramid snails. Sinse my bed is gone, I have yet to see a snail.
Lets hope it stays that way.
all you have to do is deep grate the sand weekly and everything that is trapped down there comes up and into the tank then cleaned up.
Not following you. If you grate it(mix it up) it will surely have an ammonia spike. Mixing the sand is what you DON'T want to do in a DSB. This would be fine in a SSB.
If you have a fuge/sump with sand in it, you defeat the purpose of BB. JMHO
BB in a tank is for lots-o-flow like you stated. But the sump is fine. It doesn't defeat the purpose at all. It's just adding another filter to the complete system. Diversity, my friend.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by bergamer
I love my deep sand bed,
to keep it clean is so easy, hearing all these complaints
all you have to do is deep grate the sand weekly and everything that is trapped down there comes up and into the tank then cleaned up.
if you do it weekly, you will not have any nitrate spikes or any other harmful effects

I understand exactly what your saying Bergamer, but alot of people out there running DSB say they just run by themselves and it's just not true....You told exactly how you maintenance your DSB.....You don't turn the whole sand bed of the tank over at one time do you????
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Dburr I'm on the same line of thinking as you when Bergamer, but what I think was trying to be said is from time to time or a portion of the sand bed is done that way....If you do a portion of the sand bed turning it a bit and not the whole thing you shouldn't see any spikes at all or anything noticeable...... I'm not a DSB or BB fan I just want a shallow covering, but contemplating using starboard on the 240 setup
Hey Verde, why would sand in the fuge defeat the whole purpose???? Your not running tons of flow through the sump as it is, and you wouldn't have the sand blowing everywhere.....Can you please explain why it defeats the purpose????? :thinking:
 
verde_ad

verde_ad

Member
The sand bed in the fuge just continues to act like a trap for nutrients. Eventually the sand bed will stop reducing nutrients and start releasing them back in to your system. It is not a black hole for nitrates, phosphates and whatever else to just escape our tanks. It holds them for a while until it is full and then releases them back into the system. That is why you hear of people saying there DSB crashed at 3 years. Even the macro algeas(especially cheato) trap detritous. The trend to go back to bb has to do with wanting to create a nutrient poor enviourment and by heavy skimming, high flow and no traps or dead spots you can achieve this. It is just one way to skin a cat and we all no in this hobby there are many ways to get results. I didn't go BB with my current tank, but I will for my next. I am still in the research phase, but I like what I have read and seen.
 
90reef

90reef

Member
BB is the way to go. I have a 90 gallon with a 40 gallon sump. You will love it when you are done setting it up. I painted the under side of my tank tan and the back and sides blue. I will post picture for you to se later today.
 
floorguy

floorguy

Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
Dburr I'm on the same line of thinking as you when Bergamer, but what I think was trying to be said is from time to time or a portion of the sand bed is done that way....If you do a portion of the sand bed turning it a bit and not the whole thing you shouldn't see any spikes at all or anything noticeable...... I'm not a DSB or BB fan I just want a shallow covering, but contemplating using starboard on the 240 setup
Hey Verde, why would sand in the fuge defeat the whole purpose???? Your not running tons of flow through the sump as it is, and you wouldn't have the sand blowing everywhere.....Can you please explain why it defeats the purpose????? :thinking:
get scavengers that stir the sand bed up. sand sifting sea star, nassarius snails, some turbo snails, my nassarius snails all 100 of them dig them selfs into the sand and during the day i can only find 15-20 of them the rest are under the sand. plus they are detrius eaters and eat fish waste. please correct me if im wrong but thats what i read some where.
 
sweetdawn

sweetdawn

Active Member
one advantage to the bb tank is that if fish are hiding under your live rock you can see them reflected off the bottom
 
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