Bare bottom question

JGoslee · Jan 3, 2007

My 58gal is currently barebottom but my rockwork is lying on the glass. Im starting to have a problem with debris so Im going to raise my rockwork up off the bottom to alow flow to go under the rock. Does anyone have any ideas for doing this? I was thinking of using 3" dia pvc and cutting 1"-2" pieces and then using them as stands under the rock. If you have a good idea please post it.

msman825 · Jan 3, 2007

there is a thread on rc about someone done theres like this some were

surfn · Jan 3, 2007

time to siphon the poop out. oh the joys of BB. ;) j/k

Stixbaraca · Jan 3, 2007

Maybe make a shelf by using 1" PVC...and cutting a half dozen 1" peices...then placing egg crate on top to make the shelf...then placing the rock on top?

JGoslee · Jan 3, 2007

Stixbaraca said:
Maybe make a shelf by using 1" PVC...and cutting a half dozen 1" peices...then placing egg crate on top to make the shelf...then placing the rock on top?

I thought about doing the shelf idea. One good thing about my rock is that I have 2 pieces of liverock that are really long and flat so I could use them as the shelf.

BradL. · Jan 4, 2007

At next water change. Try blasting a powerhead down behind the rocks while sucking out the crap as it all comes out the front. After the bottom is clean,blow off the rocks. I shut off my return when doing this.

twon8 · Jan 4, 2007

stick a filter sock on the drain pipe and blow around with one of those tunze's

reefboy · Jan 4, 2007

when i had a bare bottom i uesed 3inch pvc cut to about two inches in hieght to stack rock on and aranged so you couldnt really see it by not put any in the front then my return pump was attached to 1/2 inch pvc that ran down the back behind the rockwork then along the bottom the length of the tank and was caped and holes drilled every 3 inches to make a nice spray bar so it keep most detritus up front ware it could be syphoned out during water changes.But i now like deep sand beds but JMO.

MarvinsReef · Jan 4, 2007

when I had BB, I had the same problem.. :lol:

I didn't have enough time to figure it out coz I tore down the tank... but the above suggestions all sound really good... I would've tried them probably...

good luck Jesse...

JGoslee · Jan 4, 2007

twon8 said:
stick a filter sock on the drain pipe and blow around with one of those tunze's

This is exactly how I have been doing it. I did some re-aquascaping about a month ago and found alot of crap stuck under the rock. I figure if I raise the rocks of the glass it will have nowhere to go but the sump.

JGoslee · Jan 4, 2007

reefboy said:
when i had a bare bottom i uesed 3inch pvc cut to about two inches in hieght to stack rock on and aranged so you couldnt really see it by not put any in the front then my return pump was attached to 1/2 inch pvc that ran down the back behind the rockwork then along the bottom the length of the tank and was caped and holes drilled every 3 inches to make a nice spray bar so it keep most detritus up front ware it could be syphoned out during water changes.But i now like deep sand beds but JMO.

This is the idea I like the best. I saw a tank on RC that did this method and you could hardly see the pvc. Do you have any pics of this setup?

reefboy · Jan 4, 2007

sorry i dont but was a easy set up just a little time consuming to get rock set up to cover up feet but still get good flow underneath to push stuff forward.

JGoslee · Jan 4, 2007

Thanks for everyones help. I just finished fixing the rock. I think it came out pretty good. What I did was epoxy 1" 90's to the bottom of my two large base rocks and I made a 6" high shelf for the back. So now the whole rock work is up off the glass and also is very stable. I really like it.

Randy · Jan 4, 2007

JGoslee said:
This is the idea I like the best. I saw a tank on RC that did this method and you could hardly see the pvc. Do you have any pics of this setup?

I did something like this a few years ago on a tank.The only thing is I put a check valve on the output side.To stop the suck back when the power goes out.After a few months the valve would get clogged up and when the power went out one day it started to suck all the water out of the tank.