Bare bottom tanks?

[AlexKilpatrick]

I have been reading an interesting (but extremely long) thread on reefcentral about running bare bottom tanks.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=210605&perpage=25&pagen umber=1

It makes a lot of sense, and my guess is that the bottom qould become covered with corraline and/or various life, so it wouldn't really be bare glass on the bottom.

I am curious to know if anyone locally is running without a sandbed, and how it is going?

Alex

[captexas]

I have never had one myself, but I know Joshua and Vinh (TexasState) have kept one before. I think the main issue with keeping a bare bottom tank is cleaning the detrius from the bottom of the tank on a regular basis as there is nothing to break it down naturally. I saw on a thread either on RC or Reefs.org where a guy had a huge bare bottom tank and had bottom drains built in along with a special pump that blew water across the bottom whenever he wanted to clean it. Of course you can just use a regular siphon hose! lol

[Ram_Puppy]

i think that is the oregonreef tank your talking about cap... personally, I think barebottom is taking a step back in time... yes, DSB's can blow up on people, but I think that has to do with the DSB not being maintained, and an unrealistic expectation of it lasting, I mean, you have to work at it just like anything else, but I honestly think a sand bed provides a better environment for your critters. but the last thing we need to do is get into a heated debate rc style over this. :)

[jay3]

From an aesthetic standpoint, why would anyone want to keep a tank without a sandbed? Aren't most of us trying to replicate "a little slice of a natural reef?"

[Ross]

Well sand looks better than glass, but after a few months, the glass will get covered in zoos, other polyps, coralline and it looks really awesome!

[AlexKilpatrick]

I don't want to get in a debate either. There are 96 pages (!!!) in that thread, if anyone is interested in the 100 different sides of the issue. I just wanted to talk to someone who had done it locally.

I am convinced, though. I'm going to give it a shot, and I'll report back in 6 months and let you all know how it goes.

Alex

[adamRS80]

I am also planning on setting up a new tank here pretty soon. I've been thinking a lot lately about doing without a sand bed, and just putting a thin layer (1/2" or so) of coarse cruhed coral, araganite, etc. just to give a little look to the bottom and help give the fragments, polyps, and clams something to hold onto. I was planning on having a refugium with a sandbed in it packed with snails, worms, etc. to keep it in good shape. I think it would be easy to maintain a small deep sand bed in a refugium, and have a low maintainence main tank and get the benefits of some amount of DSB. Just my thoughts. I'm pretty sure Jim Norris's tank didn't have a deep sand bed but was just had a sprinkle of substrate to keep it looking nice.

[MIOR6485]

I have a 200 BB and love it. I used 1/4" HDPE from regal plastics. The only down side is my snails cant flip over so they die.

[AlexKilpatrick]

Very nice tank. I have a couple of questions for you:

1) What is the material you have on the bottom? I'm not familiar with it.
2) Why did you go with white on the bottom? I would think black would blend with the reef better
3) One thing I have heard is that BB tanks are much less susceptible to hair algae and other nuisance algae. Has this been the case for you?
4) Do you vacuum/do water changes weekly?

Thanks!
Alex

[GaryP]

One advantage of white, whether plastic or sand is that it reflects light back upwards so the the underside of corals gets at least a little light.
Of course if your bottom is covered in coraline you don't have working for you.


Gary

[AlexKilpatrick]

Thanks, Joshua. That's what I wanted to hear.

[Brett Wilson]

How much is starboard going for around here?

[AlexKilpatrick]

That's a good question. I don't know where to buy it in Austin. But at "thecuttingboardfactory.com" they quoted me a price of $54.50 for 24" x 35" piece. That is UV-resistant board, but doesn't include shipping.

Anyone know of a location in Austin?

[Brett Wilson]

regal plastics. how thick are you getting it?
I dont know exactlly what to ask for unless it's simply 'cutting board'.

[AlexKilpatrick]

1/2" board.

I'll try Regal. I'm sure if you ask for cutting board material, they will know what you mean. I don't imagine the UV resistant treatment is needed. Hopefully the corraline will cover it enough to make that unneccesary.

[Brett Wilson]

1/2" wow, that's thicker than I would have thought.
Why not just use white acrylic?
I guess I can read the thread, but that's a mighty long thread and even searching for the word acrylic would be quite a task.

[AlexKilpatrick]

I guess that is because it is cutting board. You wouldn't want a 1/8" cutting board. :)

I don't know why they don't use acrylic. That's a great question. As far as I know, the only purpose of the board is to provide a surface for the rock to sit on. It seems like the thinner, the better, so it would be less obtrusive.

[Brett Wilson]

1/2" is pretty thick... I would have guessed 3/8"

Maybe you need the 'roughness' of the cutting board... and/or maybe the acrylic is too 'shiny'.

[AlexKilpatrick]

Yeah, that might be it. You want to have something for the rock to grab on to, to prevent it from sliding on the glass. But if that is the case, why bother with rigid plastic at all? It would seem like you could just use some kind of plastic mat, like a bathtub mat kind of thing.

[SaltyJim]

Another online place to look for the cutting boards is usplastics.com . For a 60"x18"x1/4" they quote about $33 + $12 to ship.

You want the HDPE (high density polyethylene) cutting board.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fn ame=72&Page=1

[MIOR6485]

1/4" HDPE is all you need and you can purchase it at regal plastices. As Josh mentioned, the maintanence is awesome (so far). I have not had one water change since I set it up (Jun 18 04). I have a lifereef skimmer, Georeef Kalk reactor (ESV kalk), Sequence Dart with an oceansmotion for circulation and a 100micron filter bag to catch detris. I have not had any algae breaks and the water is crystal clear. My parameters are as follows: calc 410, ph8.3, alk 4.5, nitrates 0. I use a 5 stage air water and ice RO/DI unit regulated by a reefrelief auto top off.