New Bare Bottoms and Maturity

[SifuMemphis]

For all the Bare Bottom tank people out there, is it true it take's "longer" to mature your tank vs. going sand bed? I watched on BRS that for BB tanks it can take up to a year, but afterwards, it's easier to manage vs. sand tanks.

My tank is currently BB with a lot of media in the sump, but still occasionally get diatom blooms. It's been up for about 5-6 months.

So, question is, how long did it take your bare bottom tank to mature?

 

[Michael Gray]

I actually have a new tank. It's 11 months old. (from being filled). Had sand been battling GHA for months. Raging GHA. Just decided to remove sand so over the last 2 weeks I sucked it out and am now barebottom. Hoping it helps but who knows. Sorry can't answer your question but following to hear from others.

 

[Scorpius]

Bare bottom is more difficult than having a sand bottom, but the benefits far outweigh the difficulty.

 

[Michael Gray]

Bare bottom is more difficult than having a sand bottom, but the benefits far outweigh the difficulty.

Elaborate? As I just sucked sand out to help potentially my issue with never ending GHA. Now what am I in for? Lolol.

 

[SifuMemphis]

Elaborate? As I just sucked sand out to help potentially my issue with never ending GHA. Now what am I in for? Lolol.

Pretty much what I wrote in the beginning. While it's more difficult the first year, it take's longer to mature the tank / cycle the tank. From what i've read / watched, it takes on average 1 year to fully cycle / mature a BB tank since it doesn't have the sandbed for the bacteria to grow in

Afterwards, managing nutrients, waste, etc in a BB is a lot easier since it can be sucked out and/or keeping detritus suspended in the water column so it can be cleaned out vs it settling into the sandbed.

My question was simply for people who did do BB, is the "1 year" mark statement true, or have people been able to get it matured / sustained prior to the 1 year mark

 

[Antics]

I don't think a bare bottom tank takes any significant "longer" time to cycle. Mature? Perhaps. I think this question is fundamentally reliant upon what kind of equipment and more importantly -- the type of live rock you're using.

Bare bottom with brand new dry rock is going to be months and months longer to mature compared to a "new" bare bottom using 5-10 year old live rock.

 

[SifuMemphis]

Yes, using live dryrock will def take longer. In my tank, I went Bare Bottom, along with a special design from West Mariculture, which isn't live rock or dry rock. In terms or surface area, it potentially has less, which I am trying to compensate it with additional ceramic media (marine pure blocks) in the sump

 

[Sley1]

For all the Bare Bottom tank people out there, is it true it take's "longer" to mature your tank vs. going sand bed? I watched on BRS that for BB tanks it can take up to a year, but afterwards, it's easier to manage vs. sand tanks.

My tank is currently BB with a lot of media in the sump, but still occasionally get diatom blooms. It's been up for about 5-6 months.

So, question is, how long did it take your bare bottom tank to mature?

Mine bare bottom took about a year before I could keep dinos under control, I started with dry rock also. I’m almost at two years now and it’s finally settling in nicely. I still do get an occasional bacterial bloom that lasts a day or so every few months. It is very easy to keep detritus removed but I do have to scrape the bottom glass every month or so to keep the thin layer of algae/ coralline from building up. I’m wanting to add sand because I miss the look but I’ve held out for 2 years with bare bottom so I hate to loose that progress if it really does work better long term to be “bare”