I'm nervous about turning the lights back on.

[dhjunkie]

I see bare bottom as an eyesore that demands cleaning from ascetic point of view.

Let’s consider the food chain. Detritus is food for detrivores which recycle nutrients into live food for hungry mouths. Some of these hungry mouths are fish & coral.

I would like to see data on longevity of bare bottom tanks.

That data could be interesting.

 

[vetteguy53081]

You can go with reduced white and normal blue
use chemipure elite in the sump which will keep phos and hitrate in control and a preventative for so much growth.
Are you using RODI water or tap from the sink ?
Lastly- Is this tank at or near a window?

Have much clean up crew available in tank to stay ahead of algaes.
Snails:
Turbo
astrea
Trochus
Nerite
6-8 blue leg hermits

 

[Big_Mclargehuge]

What else do you have for filtration? Filter floss alone is not a means of nutrient export

jumping in randomly. Besides a skimmer what else would you use for filtration? I'm fairly new and just curious. I run filter floss, and carbon.

 

[dhjunkie]

You can go with reduced white and normal blue
use chemipure elite in the sump which will keep phos and hitrate in control and a preventative for so much growth.
Are you using RODI water or tap from the sink ?
Lastly- Is this tank at or near a window?

Using rodi water. As for the window...kinda. I've covered the side facing the window in an effort to keep sunlight out.

 

[dhjunkie]

jumping in randomly. Besides a skimmer what else would you use for filtration? I'm fairly new and just curious. I run filter floss, and carbon.

Please understand I'm in no way qualified to offer advice and I'm sure there are other kinds but all thats coming to mind is a refugium.

 

[Subsea]

jumping in randomly. Besides a skimmer what else would you use for filtration? I'm fairly new and just curious. I run filter floss, and carbon.

Protein skimmer uses surface tension of air bubbles to remove bacteria from water as skimmate. For many, protein skimmers are used with carbon dosing to export nutrients contained in bacteria. I prefer to feed my tank carbon to grow fish, coral and macro algae. I see little point in protein skimmer except for gas exchange and gas exchange is accomplished with aggressive circulation of water surface in display tank, water tumbling from display to sump or HOB with cascading overflow.

 

[Subsea]

Please understand I'm in no way qualified to offer advice and I'm sure there are other kinds but all thats coming to mind is a refugium.

Refugiums perform both nutrient export and nutrient recycling. Export when algae is removed as compost for tomatoes and recycling when pods & things go through return pump to feed tank. I feed grape Caulerpa to tangs in display.

 

[92Miata]

I see bare bottom as an eyesore that demands cleaning from ascetic point of view.

Let’s consider the food chain. Detritus is food for detrivores which recycle nutrients into live food for hungry mouths. Some of these hungry mouths are fish & coral.

I would like to see data on longevity of bare bottom tanks.

PS. I am a Laissez Faire reefkeeper that has made choices to maintain easy systems to find Zen in my life.

People were keeping barebottom tanks before the Berlin method. It absolutely works, and shouldn't be in question here.

And barebottom tanks are way easier to maintain than sand tanks.

 

[iamacat]

jumping in randomly. Besides a skimmer what else would you use for filtration? I'm fairly new and just curious. I run filter floss, and carbon.

I might get a little carried away on my thoughts lol.

it all depends on your system and what your demands are. Your filtration should match what your nutrient load is. For simpler systems like this they have all sorts of different media to insert for pulling out of excess nutrients. It’s all a balance and informing yourself before making decisions should always be exhausted before making changes in your system

 

[Subsea]

People were keeping barebottom tanks before the Berlin method. It absolutely works, and shouldn't be in question here.

And barebottom tanks are way easier to maintain than sand tanks.

No one said bare bottom did not work. I said the ascetics didn’t work for me. Obviously, any system can work, it depends on nutrient management of operator.

 

[dhjunkie]

I might get a little carried away on my thoughts lol.

it all depends on your system and what your demands are. Your filtration should match what your nutrient load is. For simpler systems like this they have all sorts of different media to insert for pulling out of excess nutrients. It’s all a balance and informing yourself before making decisions should always be exhausted before making changes in your system

Looks clean!

 

[92Miata]

No one said bare bottom did not work. I said the ascetics didn’t work for me. Obviously, any system can work, it depends on nutrient management of operator.

You asked for data on longevity of barebottom tanks - implying that longevity was an issue for them.

We have 50 years worth of data. They work.

 

[Subsea]

You asked for data on longevity of barebottom tanks - implying that longevity was an issue for them.

We have 50 years worth of data. They work.

I did imply that longevity was an issue because I have not seen an old, > 20 years, bare bottom tank.
Also, because I seek a nutrient rich tank, I use the substrate as a source & a sink for nutrient recycling. This works well for sponges & sea apples in mixed garden lagoon. I suspect you lean toward SPS which would not benefit from high nutrients.

 

[Big_Mclargehuge]

I might get a little carried away on my thoughts lol.

it all depends on your system and what your demands are. Your filtration should match what your nutrient load is. For simpler systems like this they have all sorts of different media to insert for pulling out of excess nutrients. It’s all a balance and informing yourself before making decisions should always be exhausted before making changes in your system

For sure. I have a 32 AIO So most things beyond a skimmer aren't practical. I guess I forget others have much bigger needs lol. That looks awesome btw.

 

[Big_Mclargehuge]

Protein skimmer uses surface tension of air bubbles to remove bacteria from water as skimmate. For many, protein skimmers are used with carbon dosing to export nutrients contained in bacteria. I prefer to feed my tank carbon to grow fish, coral and macro algae. I see little point in protein skimmer except for gas exchange and gas exchange is accomplished with aggressive circulation of water surface in display tank, water tumbling from display to sump or HOB with cascading overflow.

Doesn't a skimmer pull out excess nutrients though?

 

[92Miata]

I did imply that longevity was an issue because I have not seen an old, > 20 years, bare bottom tank.
Also, because I seek a nutrient rich tank, I use the substrate as a source & a sink for nutrient recycling. This works well for sponges & sea apples in mixed garden lagoon. I suspect you lean toward SPS which would not benefit from high nutrients.

If you haven't seen 20+ year old bb tanks, you haven't looked very hard.

Barebottom tanks are very stable long term - and the vast majority of people here aren't trying to keep lagoonal tanks - including the OP - so your advice to them isn't particularly helpful.


His problem is a lack of export - not a lack of substrate.

 

[dhjunkie]

Thinking about placing the powerheads in the bottom back corners facing each other. Theoretically it should force most detritus to settle toward the front where I can easily vacuum it out during water changes. Could also keep uneaten food and poo suspended longer and therefore a better chance of getting filtered out. Overall hoping this could result is a little better nutrient export. Sound logical? Totally stupid idea? What do you guys think?

 

[dhjunkie]

Lights are still off but today I switched out the pair of Koralia Nano 240s for a pair of the 425s.

Also thinking of adding a few more snails (currently have 1 trochus) and a tailspot blenny to assist with algae control. How many trochus snails is a good number for a 20 gal? Current fish inhabitants are two clownfish. What do y'all think?