Bare Bottom Tanks

[Dpitts28]

I am setting up a new 180g sps dominate with a few chalice and zoa's and I really like the look of bare bottom tanks but I was wondering if there were any down falls.

 

[flowflezy]

Following

 

[kamike91]

I ran a bare bottom for 4 years. Only downside I saw was (personal preference) aesthetics because I like sand. Another was I had to keep hidden sand reservoirs I made from live rock so I could keep certain kinds of wrasse. Other than that...

BB was really easy to clean. All the dirt found it's way into the area with least flow and made it really easy to siphon it out. And my phosphates and nitrates were always easy to control. Instead of sand I had montis, chalice, and zoos growing on the bottom.

...thinking about it... why do I have sand in my new build? Haha

 

[kamike91]

I ran a bare bottom for 4 years. Only downside I saw was (personal preference) aesthetics because I like sand. Another was I had to keep hidden sand reservoirs I made from live rock so I could keep certain kinds of wrasse. Other than that...

BB was really easy to clean. All the dirt found it's way into the area with least flow and made it really easy to siphon it out. And my phosphates and nitrates were always easy to control. Instead of sand I had montis, chalice, and zoos growing on the bottom.

...thinking about it... why do I have sand in my new build? Haha

Oh and my favorite for BB... You can really crank up the flow without having to worry about sandstorms. Better yet, keep your powerheads directed at the floor to help eliminate dead spots ;).

 

[Dpitts28]

Thats what im hoping for, easy to clean.. And i want to cover my bottom with chalice and zoas. I think I'm gonna keep mostly tangs and anthias and a couple angels so I should be alright on the fish part. I was wondering about the nutrient part of things but you said that your phosphate and nitrate was easy to keep in check so maybe it will be ok.

 

[Dpitts28]

I'm gonna run 2 gyre xf250 so that will be prefect I don't have to keep knocking the sand off all the corals.

 

[Ranjib]

You cant keep any sand based livestock, certain gobies, snails etc. I cant think of anything else, I keep very little sand, coarse-grained, purely for aesthetics.

 

[alten78]

I went bare bottom for the first time early this year after 12 years of sand and I doubt that I will go back. I didn't think i would like the aesthetics of it but I got tired of my clowns and other critters creating sandstorms but I painted the bottom of the tank white and I think it makes the look really clean. I've had fellow reefers come over that weren't fans of BB and think differently.

The downside as others have mentioned is that you can't keep animals that need a sand bed, although, i thought about putting sand in a container for a wrasse. Detritus does make its way to low flow areas which is convenient to siphon but so does chunks of coralline which isn't easy for me to siphon. I have to pull out the vacuum every other week before it starts driving me crazy which is just a pain for my setup.

 

[DSC reef]

Went bare bottom and love it. I do miss having a wrasse but the ease of maintenance, lots of flow and corals growing on the bottom is awesome. I doubt I'd ever go back to sand for our main reef tank.

 

[Dpitts28]

Is it easy to get the corals off the bottom like chalice or monti for fraging purposes.

 

[DSC reef]

Very easy, I do it all the time. I literally have rastas growing crazy, I just cut and pull. Montis are starting to grow together as well.

 

[Dpitts28]

That is my goal, I want the entire bottom to be covered in corals. What type of snails do you keep? I heard astrea snails are good for bare bottom.

 

[g5flier]

My new (2nd tank) SPS system will definitely be BB. Would like to see photos of the white bottom mentioned above.

 

[DSC reef]

Astrea snails are the ones I keep. Love those guys. Next time I will cover the glass in white starboard though. Here's a few pics of just bare bottom glass. You can see the growth in a 2 month span.

 

[lbacha]

So for those of you running bare bottom do you glue frags to the bottom or is the weight of the plug enough to keep them in place. I just started a small nano tank with a bare bottom so that I could have high flow in (it's only 7" tall so sand would go everywhere) and I was planning on getting zoa's monti and other corals to grow on the bottom like the pics above

 

[DSC reef]

So for those of you running bare bottom do you glue frags to the bottom or is the weight of the plug enough to keep them in place. I just started a small nano tank with a bare bottom so that I could have high flow in (it's only 7" tall so sand would go everywhere) and I was planning on getting zoa's monti and other corals to grow on the bottom like the pics above

I just leave the frag to encrust on its own.

 

[Dpitts28]

That's the way i want mine to look.

 

[red02]

when i went bare bottom i used starboard and all dry rock i would make sure you use some good old seasoned live rock that has been in a system for years. it took my tank a year before i was able to keep sps coral.Also i put a bunch of rock in my sump because i didn't have a lot of rock in the display. 2 mp60 about 200 snails I'm now loving the tank the maintenance is so easy no gfo just give it time.

 

[g5flier]

Astrea snails are the ones I keep. Love those guys. Next time I will cover the glass in white starboard though. Here's a few pics of just bare bottom glass. You can see the growth in a 2 month span.

Fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing and the inspiration!

 

[alten78]

Here's a few pics of mine, I only have a few monti's (JF Blue Summit, Sandollar) and a Sunblaster Lepto