Bare bottom question

[enthejungle]

I think I'm slowly making the progression to removing my sand and going bare bottom. I just got to thinking about the lack of a sand bed and my rock stacking integrity. I'm not horribly concerned but was looking for some input regarding this matter. When I set up my tank I set the rock and then placed my sand. There wasn't any issues then so assuming none would be present if I removed it but just wanted everyone's thoughts. Thanks.

 

[sc50964]

I've seen ppl sawing their rocks so they are flat on one side. I've also seen ppl do fancier stuff like placing cut LR on acrylic discs that have half spheres on the bottom or piecing a bunch of LR together and then hoist them off of an reinforced canopy to make cleaning easier. Without sand, it will be easier for LR to tumble down and also debris show up easier. So security and ease of cleaning are two key issues.

 

[enthejungle]

I've seen ppl sawing their rocks so they are flat on one side. I've also seen ppl do fancier stuff like placing cut LR on acrylic discs that have half spheres on the bottom or piecing a bunch of LR together and then hoist them off of an reinforced canopy to make cleaning easier. Without sand, it will be easier for LR to tumble down and also debris show up easier. So security and ease of cleaning are two key issues.

Way more work than I'm looking to do. Maybe I'll put an end to my siphoning with my WCs. Guess another conch and possibly another powerhead would suffice. I don't necessarily have a dirty SB, but with the amount of LR and marine pure I have don't really see the need for my sand. It is a bit more natural looking but for me the tradeoff isn't quite there.

 

[pugcrush]

Way more work than I'm looking to do. Maybe I'll put an end to my siphoning with my WCs. Guess another conch and possibly another powerhead would suffice. I don't necessarily have a dirty SB, but with the amount of LR and marine pure I have don't really see the need for my sand. It is a bit more natural looking but for me the tradeoff isn't quite there.

You have a picture? If it was stable before you put sand in, it shouldn't be any different now unless something drastic changed. I love bare bottom now. Clean all the detritus with a water change.

 

[nervousmonkey]

There is a fantastic way to keep rocks up and off the glass to prevent detritus from building up. @mixer911 does a great job in his build thread, page 6, of creating an acrylic rack that holds the rock off the bottom (he adds sand eventually though); the look is clean, not noticeable, would make keeping a bare bottom a whole lot easier in terms of keeping all detritus off the bottom and not stuck in between rocks and the bare bottom of the tank. Here is a link to where he starts to build his rockwork (Note: Since seeing what and how he did it, I have scaped all of my rockwork like his, but I didn't use the bottom piece of acrylic, just drilled holes and epoxied the rods into the rock and that is what holds my rock off of the bottom of the tank): https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-synergy-reef-v2-official-build-48-x-36-x-30.221122/page-6

I hope this helps in terms of thinking about what you are able to do with a bare bottom, some inspiration from Synergy Reef and some creativity!!!

 

[enthejungle]

I greatly appreciate the replies. Guess I'm going to leave it as is for now. Gives me another excuse to upgrade. I've got a million of those excuses so far. Nothing in this hobby is easy.