Bare bottom tanks

[ajslick]

Whats the deal with bare bottom tanks? Is there any benifits of doing this or is it just for asthetic (sp?) purposes. Anyone have some good pics?

 

[fishieness]

not for asthetic purposes at all. It's a great way to have a very low nutrient system. You can have tons an tons of flow for your sps, and also you can have enough flow where none of the detritus can settle on the bottom to rot, and is instead, picked up by your skimmer before it causes lots of nutrients. A successful one is always run with a very large skimmer.
my 10 gallon right now is a bare bottom because when i was moving it, the tank broke so i went barebottom isntead of isturbing the sand bed. On it is a deltec MC500 skimmer.

 

[socal57che]

I've heard that a lot of fish are disturbed or disoriented by a bare bottom, but have no experience myself.

 

[maxalmon]

My next tank will have a modified bare bottom, I'm going to pulverize enough LR into .5" -.75" chunks and spred them over the bottom of the tank, I'll still be able to increase the tank flow and flush out detritus, but not have the glossy look on the bottom of the tank.