Bare bottom tank

yep

 

I have 1 of my tanks like that (Bare Bottom)and at some point will make the other as well...Ive not found that sweet spot on the MP40s to keep the sand from picking up...

 

My tank is barebottom and although I like the look of sand, having less maintenance & not having to worry about scratching the glass with the magfloat outweighs having sand in my opinion.

I still have a small cleanup crew, hermits, snails, a brittle star. The bottom is mostly coarline covered except under the rocks where the light doesnt hit it. (it's actually pretty helpful because I can look up from the bottom to see fish hiding and watch the star fish eat). I'm not sure how the clean-up crew would do if it were covered in zoas though. Snails would probably be OK, but star fish & hermits might not work out too well.

 

all my breeder tanks are bb, biocube is a reef and is large grained sand.

 

I'm BB and LOVE IT!! I'll never have sand againl, been BB for about 3 years now. It'll get covered in coraline anyway. You can see exactly where the detritus is piling up and deal with it.


I took all my sand out at once when I did it. It was a pretty big undertaking but it was over and done with in an afternoon. Other people I know have just siphoned it out a little at a time as they do their water changes.


As far as CUC, I have a 90 gallon tank and never need more than about 20 snails, and I feed heavily. I don't keep crabs.

 

So I was going to go barebottom on my new tank. Are you all just stacking the rock right on the glass bottom? I know a lot of people always used to put starboard down first.

 

My rock is on the glass.

 

Just the glass bottom here too...BUT it would probably be a good idea if by chance your rocks fall apart and hit the glass just right. I think the key is to make sure you have a strong rock structure. I'm probably going to go back and epoxy my rocks together as I've had a few avalanches already.

 

If you go bb, it's my experience to favor snails not crabs... they have a hard time getting about on such slick surfaces. But if you want them, add them after zoa's, coraline, or something that you want covers the bottom. your choice. I do have a couple bb tanks with crabs and they make do, certainly don't thrive..so...just saying. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/wink.gif

 

I was going to do a sheet of HDPE on the bottom of my tank, but ultimately decided that it wouldn't really do me any better than just glass. It was going to be about $100 for the half inch sheet and I have a 90 gallon tank, so I think it's half inch glass.. That money was better spent on another pump.

I don't have a rock big enough that would be high enough to actually do any damage if it fell. If the tank were empty they could, but filled with water they don't get enough velocity to do any damage. In MY tank anyway.

I have also epoxied the rock in key places, but made sure it was stable before doing so. The epoxy was put in as kind of a "tuck job" in masonry.