Went bare bottom!

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 5, 2019

Was tired of detritus buildup and ugly algae and gunk built up on my rocks so I took out all my rocks and scrub them all except the one my Nem was attached to. All sand removed and inhabitants was added back after the tank was thoroughly cleaned.

Hope nothing goes wrong. All fish and corals is happy in the new setting.

MixedFruitBasket · Dec 5, 2019

Tuan’s Reef said:
Was tired of detritus buildup and ugly algae and gunk built up on my rocks so I took out all my rocks and scrub them all except the one my Nem was attached to. All sand removed and inhabitants was added back after the tank was thoroughly cleaned.

Hope nothing goes wrong. All fish and corals is happy in the new setting.

There is a very good chance your tank will need to cycle again since you scrubbed your rocks and you may have an ammonia spike.

SDK · Dec 5, 2019

I did this about six months ago and couldn't be happier. If you just scrubbed the outside of the rocks and are on top of things otherwise, I would not worry too much about a cycle.

What I did find was that my NO3 and PO4 crept up a bit for a few months. I just used some Vibrant and elbow grease to get through it. Tank now looks better than it ever has.....

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 5, 2019

Should I dose some bacteria ? I have chaeto running as well ...

brandon429 · Dec 5, 2019

no need to dose, all ammonia events if any happen overnite. we have a 30 page thread of this action, pls add pics of your new setup and Ill add it to the sand rinse/removal thread. the running action in our sand access thread is we never need bottle bac as a helper. Removing sandbeds is harmless, and cleaning rocks in a way that isn't antibacterial/no meds is harmless.

the one actual harm risk comes from underdoing it, which is ironic. putting back a mess of detritus somewhere is what causes the new cycle, so if you reassembled cleanly, no cycle. any cycle would've killed all your fish first ten hours. after that time expires, can't recycle. the rocks needed to be rinsed in saltwater really well after scrubbing, so that no clouding from scrubbed items gets back in the main tank. the formula is so simple: leave some clouding, get a minor recycle risk. leave no clouding, get zero recycle risk.

try to do before and after pics!
B

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 5, 2019

Before :

After:

going to rescape it after next week. Didn’t want to leave them out of the water for too long

brandon429 · Dec 5, 2019

And you took that sandbed out all at once, no ramp up time is that right

This looks great. Fish under ammonia stress can’t emit waste ammonia from their gills while being ammonia burnt. They hover at the surface gasping for air usually as gas exchange is slowed by irritated gills. Those clowns are perfect / no ammonia setup

If you did remove that bed at once, it’s a testament to the surface area of live rocks that’s for sure.

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 6, 2019

Yep, took out all the sand at once. Fish and corals still happy . Will run a battery of tests later today.

I noticed pods in my rocks for the first time. Probably because I took away all the sand.

brandon429 · Dec 6, 2019

Really great documentation just checking those details, this procedure breaks all known reef rules set since the 90s (didn’t give time for rocks to take on new bac) and we love rule breakers. They find new ground and care boundaries

Removing the bed all at once prevented nutrient upwelling from removing in sections and is the safer way vs partial removal since the surface area of live rock is unaffected by having more or less surface area in action around it. I linked your work example to page one sand rinse and removal thread nice documentation and execution

dadnjesse · Dec 6, 2019

I also removed all the sand from my tank a few months ago and everything has been great. I have been algae free ever since. Before I was battling hair algae.

Ashish Patel · Dec 6, 2019

I went Barebottom and never had an issue again with cyano or any other weird algae. It is also great than when SPS break off they can survive on the bottom for along time before I can get to them. I love putting invasive corals on the bottom such as Montis and zoas. You will be happy but your family and friends won't get it.

smirkis · Dec 6, 2019

I went bare bottom years ago and never looked back. If you like clean pristine tanks bare bottom is the way to go. So much easier to maintain water chemistry and you just syphon any buildup from wherever it settles

PanaReefer · Dec 6, 2019

I’m thinking on going bare bottom as well, did you added the water back after sucking the sand out? or did you added fresh salt mix?

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 6, 2019

PanaReefer said:
I’m thinking on going bare bottom as well, did you added the water back after sucking the sand out? or did you added fresh salt mix?

i siphoned all the water out but only put back 9-10 gallons of old tank water. It’s a 20 gallon IM Nuvo 20. The rest of the old tank water I used to scrub my live rocks.
Will take closer pics of the rocks as well.

It’s been about 36 hrs since the change and all is well. Acans , zoas , montis , lps, sps all good with PE.

tank looks clean and clear...so far so good ...Knock on wood lol

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 6, 2019

Didn’t clean this rock. Doesn’t look to bad but there are patches of algae and cyano.

Tuan’s Reef · Dec 6, 2019

Cleaned the rest of these rocks but obviously I didn’t get all of the algae . You can see the differences here. Broke a piece off my acro but it’s fine I’m sure .

brandon429 · Dec 6, 2019

thats amazing detailing. you are doing the work that rasping organisms do in the wild, you simply took the tank back by force but under controlled actions that focused on target, really great job. The reset tank is simply clean.

Did you know that any aquarium online that was lost to an invasion is a direct reverse engineering of this thread. What you did is what saves tanks. What the masses do:

-start an ID thread.
-wait as ID's are hashed.
-pick from a random offer of genera an ID
-begin phosphate and nitrate testing without verifying any reading. accept all first readings as accurate.
-begin adjusting nitrate and phosphate up, or down, based on whatever field you ascribe to at the time.
-leave the algae in place
-buy water dosers, leave the algae in place.
-leave the fuel for all the algae in place.
-leave the fuel in place (a filthy clouding sandbed) for the next six succession of invasions, diatoms to gha to cyano to lyngbya to eventual dinos and back again
-send off for $ paid sampling of your water to discern bac, or ICP levels, while the forest remains.

there's twenty other steps the masses would advise, and all of them end in 'the forest remains'

It turns out that the right sized reef for anyone isn't the largest, most stable reef.

Its the most accessible reefs that win lifespan contests. we have the absolute final say on what grows or not, and all wrecked tanks are caused by the aquarist simply making the forest remain for one reason or another or claiming the tank is too complex to perform surgery. they accept the overgrowth.

Your tank is fixed due to opposites of above. ***if it grows back, that means your reef is in good standing, balanced, not bad standing. you can experiment with preventative options, everything books and forums tell us to do about algae should come in the clean condition not the invaded, forested one.

Anything you add or change now, in the absence of target mass, really is working well against its regrowth. if something starts to take over, its no question your tank wont get taken over/you do surgery when required.

Any scuba diver knows a pristine reef grows tons of algae if no animals are there to prevent it by force or opportunity. fear of destabilization is the #1 hesitation cause for invaded tanks, we needed care boundaries that allowed for action.

this is now linked to the peroxide thread in the nuisance algae forum even though peroxide doesnt factor above as a direct application. the reason your thread is directly related to our long work thread is the pre work, you pre worked your tank exactly ideally correct before applying measures that may help prevent growback. you forced the clean condition, didnt allow for loss option.

Your thread reinforces the notion that algae presence and cycling are unrelated. Our entire hobby...books, articles, has us inextricably link algae + bacteria (we are told to allow early initial foresting as part of a claimed ugly phase) and the outcome is thousands of lost tanks. We are allowed to consider algae independent from cycle bacteria and if we do, then we have no invasions to concern about. it will save you money in reefing to be a brute vs a coaxer at the right time.

ScottR · Dec 6, 2019

I did this about a year ago. I was happy as sand was like the naughty child in the room. Detritus on a BB is so much easier to clean. I direct a powerhead at it about an hour before a water change. Only downside I see is, algae growth builds up and is impossible to scrub off but I don’t mind.