Calling all bare bottom tank owners for your help.

[FishTruck]

I also followed the WWC method and had coralline growing in about 8 weeks.

I used 1/2 live rock that I have had for 10 plus years in the sumps... 1/2 new dry rock all in the display - in carefully constructed formations to maximize flow across the bottom of the tank. I kept the lights off in the display at first and never had any algae or any problems on the dry rock in the display.

Since I brought corals from my old tank... I did have to turn the lights on in my frag tanks, and I am still battling algae down there.

My current problem is water clarity. The display is always loaded with detritus flying around from the fish poop. My tank turnover through the sump might only be about 2 - 3x right now, so I am upgrading my system pump to try for 5-6 x. I'll post on my build site if it works to clear the water.

Also, I am running UV, rollermats for mechanical filtration, occasional carbon, occasional GFO. I rigged up a siphon that allows me to vaccum the detritus piles into a filter sock in the basement. I start the siphon by just jamming the siphon tubing on the return outlet.

 

[flyfisher2]

dry rock, all dead! Ammonia and waited....
And waited.... And waited...

 

[Appoloreefer]

all bare bottom sps dominate tank owners. Walk me threw your tank set up. What did u do to get ur bare bottom to cycle? How long did this take u? What type of success are u having with ur bare bottom stick dominate tank? ( love to see those pics) I will be starting a 160 gallon acro dominate bare bottom display tank and would love to know how all u that have done this successfully went about it.

I currently am cycling a 125 gallon bare bottom and so far it has been almost two weeks and it is cycling like a normal tank would cycle. My ammonia spiked within a week or just over a week and is now on the decline, My Nitrite is peaking and holding steady and my Nitrate is spiking so I feel that it is doing great. I did use Dr. Tim Bacteria when I started the tank, and am using about 100 lbs of rock. I use the lights during the day, no protein skimmer yet and I have done no water changes. I am old school with cycling a tank and I know a lot of people think it is cruel but I purchased two damsels and they are doing great. I have used damsels in the past and after the tank cycled I had them for many years even after I added more fish and they were not aggressive and all my fish adapted. The reason I am starting over is I sold my smaller tank and everything in it when we moved to a house and now I am starting over.

 

[Appoloreefer]

I implemented mine based on the BRS/WWC method the-only-sps-reef-tank-setup-guide-youll-ever-need-the-brs-wwc-system-ep20. I started with live rock which in my opinion really accelerates and provides stability up front. I started the tank on 8/13/19, added a raw shrimp and I believe 3 different brands of bottled bacteria. On 9/1 added two clowns, 10/14 added 6 tangs and a booster of the bacteria. The tank has generally been thriving ever since. Note that I went with a lot of flow (4 MP 40s and 2 gyre fx 350s) and generally don't get any areas where detritus collects. Here are some pics (sorry for poor quality).

For filtration I use filter socks, carbon, 3 of the dimpled bio bricks in the sump and a skimmer. I also run UV on the tank and a calcium reactor with a CO2 scrubber. The total water volume is about 190 gallons and have a DOS do about 12 gallons of water changes each week. For lighting I am running 3 Radion Pros and 4 T5s.

All of the corals in the pics started out as your normal small 1-2 inch frags except the large green Monti on the left, it came out of another tank and was about 3 inches in diameter and wasn't sure it would make it (mostly brown) but now is the size of a dinner plate. I believe I added the first corals in late November/Early December 2019. I waited until I have visible Coraline growth before adding any corals.

Looks Great!

 

[Appoloreefer]

also what if not planning on using live rock? Trying to keep hitchhikers out and do a negative aquascape.

I used dry rock and the tank is cycling fine

 

[Bmasculine]

I started mine dry rock, with a negative space style aquascape, I have rock and bio balls in my sump that are at least 2 years old and full of sponges, amphipods, and whatever bacteria have populated. I used the Dr Tim’s fishless cycle adding bottled ammonia for about three weeks then added fish and waited about two months before starting to add coral. Nutrients were stable within 3 weeks of putting in fish which were all added at once. I started with zoas, then moved some lps, and was keeping sps within 4 months of setting this tank up. I have no doubt that the established rock and bio balls in my sump was the reason for a quick success I’m just now starting to see sponges and pods on the rock in my tank, but have successfully kept everything alive I’ve put in. Alive and growing I should say. I do a water change once a week and dose a little dr Tim’s probiotic bacteria, nutrients stay consistent at .05 po4 and 2 nitrate. It’s a 60 gal cube. Also tons of flow.

 

[rusgum]

I have been without sand for many years. It's easier for me.

 

[Shooter6]

Filled my 400g on newyears eve. Dry rock which had been cycled for at least 8 months. I left it running for about 4 months without lights or skimmer. I dosed pods and slight ghost feeds. I dosed multiple bacteria like microbactor 7 and reefbrite liverock enhance.
I turned the lights on and added well over 100 sps frags. Only 1 small scopas and 8 mollies in it so far. So I have a bit of an algae battle going right now but that's coming to an end with the addition of 100 snails and dosing hydrogen peroxide.

 

[ReefRondo]

I’ve been wondering about this for a while now. I have had my tank sitting empty since August 2020 as I’m still waiting on my rock to arrive. Seems covid has stopped Marco rock coming to the UK. I’m going bare bottom. Anyway this entire live rock thing got me thinking especially from a bacterial biodiversity aspect. Would it be of benefit to buy let’s say 5 Brightwell xport bricks and give them to 5 of your reefing buddies and get each of them to drop one in their sump (people you trust first and foremost to not introduce huge problems to your tank) and all swap them out from time to time between the 5 different systems? I have 2 systems running here already so have dropped a few bricks in both sumps to seed for my new system getting wet. Surely this is just as good as live rock? I think the benefits of dry rock being free of pests and also being able to take as much time as you wish to gain the perfect scape is amazing. Surely a few of these bricks in your sump would do the same job? I find using live rock ties you down quite a bit scape wise.

 

[Bmasculine]

I’ve been wondering about this for a while now. I have had my tank sitting empty since August 2020 as I’m still waiting on my rock to arrive. Seems covid has stopped Marco rock coming to the UK. I’m going bare bottom. Anyway this entire live rock thing got me thinking especially from a bacterial biodiversity aspect. Would it be of benefit to buy let’s say 5 Brightwell xport bricks and give them to 5 of your reefing buddies and get each of them to drop one in their sump (people you trust first and foremost to not introduce huge problems to your tank) and all swap them out from time to time between the 5 different systems? I have 2 systems running here already so have dropped a few bricks in both sumps to seed for my new system getting wet. Surely this is just as good as live rock? I think the benefits of dry rock being free of pests and also being able to take as much time as you wish to gain the perfect scape is amazing. Surely a few of these bricks in your sump would do the same job? I find using live rock ties you down quite a bit scape wise.

Yes it would do the same thing as live rock. It’s how I started my tank with next to no actual cycle and was able to start adding stuff almost immediately. I had lots of bio media from sumps 2+ years old that I put into sump of my dry rock BB tank. I also like the benefits of using clean easily scaped dry rock, key is getting the biodiversity from some other source.

 

[1ocean]

I started mine dry rock, with a negative space style aquascape, I have rock and bio balls in my sump that are at least 2 years old and full of sponges, amphipods, and whatever bacteria have populated. I used the Dr Tim’s fishless cycle adding bottled ammonia for about three weeks then added fish and waited about two months before starting to add coral. Nutrients were stable within 3 weeks of putting in fish which were all added at once. I started with zoas, then moved some lps, and was keeping sps within 4 months of setting this tank up. I have no doubt that the established rock and bio balls in my sump was the reason for a quick success I’m just now starting to see sponges and pods on the rock in my tank, but have successfully kept everything alive I’ve put in. Alive and growing I should say. I do a water change once a week and dose a little dr Tim’s probiotic bacteria, nutrients stay consistent at .05 po4 and 2 nitrate. It’s a 60 gal cube. Also tons of flow.

Yep I agree the bio balls etc transfer helped for sure. I am in the process of replacing my sand bottom 140 with a new 300 BB. After seeing all the success of BB, we are going BB on the 300. To prepare I moved some sand to the big refug on the 140 and took out alot sand out of the 140 since we added SPS colonies from a local guy who is tearing down his tank. HAd to turn up the flow.
My plan is to also move my bio balls, ceramic rings to the 2 new sumps (24x28x16 race track style tied together with 3 inch pipe) for the 300 and also will have a 2 chambers new stand alone refug that over flows into both sumps after the skimmer chamber. One chamber for cheato and then one for old sand and pouros rocks to keep my pod population happy.
I think the sand/porous rock chamber in the refug will act give me benefits of sand in the tank yet more manageable for cleanup.
The two sumps will be one mechanical and biological and the other mechanical and chemical with reactors. Each with their return pumps. I think having two gives me opportunity to clean or add or remove stuff in a sump or chamber without upsetting balance to much.
Plus gives me open space in the middle of the tank stand

 

[1ocean]

I have been without sand for many years. It's easier for me.

Awesome tank. What are you doing dosing 2 part, or Kalk or cal reactor?

 

[rusgum]

Awesome tank. What are you doing dosing 2 part, or Kalk or cal reactor?

Thank you. I am using the original three-part balling Tropic Marin

 

[Bmasculine]

Yep I agree the bio balls etc transfer helped for sure. I am in the process of replacing my sand bottom 140 with a new 300 BB. After seeing all the success of BB, we are going BB on the 300. To prepare I moved some sand to the big refug on the 140 and took out alot sand out of the 140 since we added SPS colonies from a local guy who is tearing down his tank. HAd to turn up the flow.
My plan is to also move my bio balls, ceramic rings to the 2 new sumps (24x28x16 race track style tied together with 3 inch pipe) for the 300 and also will have a 2 chambers new stand alone refug that over flows into both sumps after the skimmer chamber. One chamber for cheato and then one for old sand and pouros rocks to keep my pod population happy.
I think the sand/porous rock chamber in the refug will act give me benefits of sand in the tank yet more manageable for cleanup.
The two sumps will be one mechanical and biological and the other mechanical and chemical with reactors. Each with their return pumps. I think having two gives me opportunity to clean or add or remove stuff in a sump or chamber without upsetting balance to much.
Plus gives me open space in the middle of the tank stand

Sounds fantastic, if I ever do another tank it will be a 300

 

[Reef junky 305]

This 300 gall is 6 year old reef 2 years into its life i had too move due too family growing so when I moved I decided to not add the sand the tank definitely struggled for over 6 months due too low nutrients and dinos but once it leveled out I will never look back at sand.....the corals will be the sand bed

 

[keithw283]

I've watched the videos from his setup as he went along. He made so many rookie mistakes it's laughable. He killed his tank ..........it had nothing to do with the rock. The whole setup was mismanaged.

The biggest mistake was not using some live rock from the numerous tanks they have all over the BRS offices to seed his dead rock.

Barebottom had nothing to do with his failure.

So you say it had nothing to do with the rock but his biggest mistake was not using live rock to seed?

 

[Pistol Peet]

I have been without sand for many years. It's easier for me.

Looks amazing

 

[rusgum]

Looks amazing

thanks

 

[ReefRondo]

Just an update on my system. All going really well. Light brown dusting on my glass every few days but looking great so far. Corals in a few days after my rock and all encrusting and growing well. Check out my build thread if you get time for all of the other info.

 

[Big E]

So you say it had nothing to do with the rock but his biggest mistake was not using live rock to seed?

Sorry, that was a typo.........it should say" it had nothing to do with the bare bottom." He was blaming the dead rock BB combo.

I've set up Bare bottom tanks with a small piece of live rock and clean dead rock and had acros in them in a week with some fish. You need to have some fish in there so the nutrients aren't zero.

There is a specific process involved........I'd be happy to walk anyone through this, just send me a pm.