Dry rock bare bottom tank question

[DriftN201]

I have a 24 nano and decided to go full dry rock and bare bottom this time. I decided to put a gallon of marine pure balls for additional surface area in the back and dosed with dr. Tim’s, microbactor xlm and currently using vibrant. I am currently about 6 weeks with clown fish and I added some zoas to see how they would do. So far everything looks pretty good with some expected diatoms and algae but nothing major. Has anyone else gone this route? Is so, any tips or things to expect while the tank is still new.

 

[Arthacker87]

Keep calm and wait a little. 6 weeks is still a pretty new tank. Let it run. I say this but I rushed and had success lol. Some coral can be easy, like zoa/paly coral, but if you havent had an algae boom or let cycle there is a time when coral can still die. What levels are everything at?

 

[oceans garden aquaculture]

I have a 24 nano and decided to go full dry rock and bare bottom this time. I decided to put a gallon of marine pure balls for additional surface area in the back and dosed with dr. Tim’s, microbactor xlm and currently using vibrant. I am currently about 6 weeks with clown fish and I added some zoas to see how they would do. So far everything looks pretty good with some expected diatoms and algae but nothing major. Has anyone else gone this route? Is so, any tips or things to expect while the tank is still new.

 

[tnw50cal]

I have, but put bio media from a tank that had been up for years in the back. Had SPS in it day after setting it up.

 

[User1]

I have a 24 nano and decided to go full dry rock and bare bottom this time. I decided to put a gallon of marine pure balls for additional surface area in the back and dosed with dr. Tim’s, microbactor xlm and currently using vibrant. I am currently about 6 weeks with clown fish and I added some zoas to see how they would do. So far everything looks pretty good with some expected diatoms and algae but nothing major. Has anyone else gone this route? Is so, any tips or things to expect while the tank is still new.

Well having used Dr Tims and also using 150 lbs of dry rock you are in for a slow process. No way around it really as the biological filter is going to take some time. Cycling a tank for fish is not the same as it being established for corals and more fish. It is going to be a stepping stone for lack of a better word. BRS just did a few videos on it. Not sure if it will help but both are interesting if you have some time to play them on the side.

Only thing I can say based on doing live rock previously and more recently dry rock it does take time. In my case I'm on the 2 year mark an only now feel it is mature. But it is an ladder you climb as each day goes by. Patience for sure and go slow. You will probably be ok.



Or

 

[tnw50cal]

Here's some pictures, IM Nuvo 10 that was supposed to be a QT. The porites went in 1 day after set up. Had a little bit of a green algae bloom(about 2 months in) but since have dosed Microbacter 7 at a couple of drops a week. The birdsnest,Acans, etc.went in at a week as well as 10 snails.

And now almost 6 months later.

 

[DriftN201]

I have, but put bio media from a tank that had been up for years in the back. Had SPS in it day after setting it up.

Very cool. Wish I had access to established bio media. I wish there was a service that sold pest free bio media, it seems like that is the future of feeding. I can't even find small pieces of live rock anymore. The only LFS near me went out of business during covid.

 

[tnw50cal]

Pest free!!!! 3rd picture down you can see PC( his/her name,stands for pest control). A six line wrasse who's very very good at it.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

I also have a bare bottom tank, first time. I had many issues in the beginning but have worked them out. The major problem did not have enough rock in the tank to replace the sand. We added some to the sump and added a UV and the take looks great. I am so glad we switch to the bare bottom...but I do like the rubble sand look in other tanks.

 

[tnw50cal]

Barebottom has more issues in the beginning but pays off later. Gravel/sand has less problems in the beginning but CAN become a pain later on.

 

[DriftN201]

Thanks for all of the replies. Has anyone tested the idea of additional dosing of bottle bacteria and the use of marine pure? BRS has touched on the idea but I was wondering if anyone has tried it. My theory is to add as much beneficial bacteria that is safe and feed slowly. Bad algae and bacteria seem to grow faster so if I give the good bacteria a boost and don't have too much nutrients for the bad bacteria I should have a faster, safer cycle. Any thoughts on other bottle bacteria? Microbacer7 or am I over doing it? I wonder if a company like Algae Barn will start selling bricks of cycled Marine Pure in the future.

 

[User1]

Thanks for all of the replies. Has anyone tested the idea of additional dosing of bottle bacteria and the use of marine pure? BRS has touched on the idea but I was wondering if anyone has tried it. My theory is to add as much beneficial bacteria that is safe and feed slowly. Bad algae and bacteria seem to grow faster so if I give the good bacteria a boost and don't have too much nutrients for the bad bacteria I should have a faster, safer cycle. Any thoughts on other bottle bacteria? Microbacer7 or am I over doing it? I wonder if a company like Algae Barn will start selling bricks of cycled Marine Pure in the future.

I believe it provides more surface area and area in general for the bacteria to take hold.

As far as reselling aged marine pure type blocks I think that may be difficult because they are a bit more fragile.

 

[jcolliii]

I think the early problems with bare bottom can be mitigated by using biomedia in the sump or AIO back chambers and filter floss (along with skimming). I doubt you'll have much luck with reducing nitrates much with marinepure bricks - it just seems too porous to allow areas with low oxygen and anaerobic bacteria to do their thing. I'm trying Seachem prime seeded with Aquavitro Seed to accomplish that. It is much less porous, and my hope is that it will eventually help keep nitrates in check. That said, getting organics out before they break down is pretty darn effective at keeping nitrates down. I feed my corals and fish what I feel is quite a bit, and my nitrates stay right around 7ppm or so. I feel that in bare bottom tanks in particular, filter floss that is changed every day or every other day is really important in nutrient export and keeping nitrates under control as well. I definitely notice algae growth when I get lazy at changing out my floss. My snails keep it under control pretty well though.

 

[Twotone24v]

I recently set up a BB SPS tank and have had my share of troubles. I am 5 months in and spent the last 2 months with a pretty bad bacteria bloom with cloudy water and ended up getting a Aqua UV 25w on my RSR425. Things cleared up within 24 hours and I wished I had just done that from the beginning. Take things as slowly as possible and expect some setbacks. Good luck!

 

[DriftN201]

I recently set up a BB SPS tank and have had my share of troubles. I am 5 months in and spent the last 2 months with a pretty bad bacteria bloom with cloudy water and ended up getting a Aqua UV 25w on my RSR425. Things cleared up within 24 hours and I wished I had just done that from the beginning. Take things as slowly as possible and expect some setbacks. Good luck!

Live rock or dry? Do you have any additional rock or substrate in the sump? Everyone seems convinced that live rocks main purpose is for nitrate removal but I am convinced the surface area of sand helps with overall stability and doing a BB requires some form of supplemental substrate. Just curious on others thoughts.

 

[Twotone24v]

Live rock or dry? Do you have any additional rock or substrate in the sump? Everyone seems convinced that live rocks main purpose is for nitrate removal but I am convinced the surface area of sand helps with overall stability and doing a BB requires some form of supplemental substrate. Just curious on others thoughts.

I did dry rock but also used some bio balls from my previous tank. Used probably 60 pounds of "real reef dry rock", I was hoping that the established bio balls would help with my BB tank first year struggles but definitely still had a large bacteria bloom.

 

[Twotone24v]

That photo is unfortunately after I installed the UV sterilizer and didn't keep any photos from when the tank was cloudy. I should have kept some but the light reflected so bad on the cloudy water that I deleted them. LoL

 

[DriftN201]

I did dry rock but also used some bio balls from my previous tank. Used probably 60 pounds of "real reef dry rock", I was hoping that the established bio balls would help with my BB tank first year struggles but definitely still had a large bacteria bloom.

I like the idea of used bio balls to seed the tank. I wish I had access to some. I think I will use some of the Marine Pure balls in this tank to seed my next tank in a year or so.
Even with the algae bloom I would consider that much sps in only 5 months a success.

 

[DriftN201]

For anyone still interested, I have decided to go the route of adding as many Marine Pure balls that I could fit and dosing heavily with various bacteria. I started with Dr. Tim’s and 2 clown fish, waited a few weeks and turned on the lights. I then used Microbacter xlm and vibrant and added some zoas. I had a quick diatom bloom but it passed sooner than expected. I added a royal gramma and started dosing Microbacter 7 while still using Vibrant. I have some green algae and a small patch of hair algae but the tank is much more successful than I expected. I added some acans, blastos, and rock flower anemones and everything looks great so far. I am only about 9 weeks in but the method of adding more surface area and beneficial bacteria looks like it is paying off.