Rock bottom tank? Is that a thing?

[Boberto]

I'm upgrading to a new 65g in the next few weeks. I love the look of sand and have always had sand tanks, but find my time to dedicate to cleaning it is not consistent. Bare bottom seems too empty for me. So I'm thinking...

Does anyone have experience creating a mosaic like "substrate" using just rock? I have my main aquascape rock set up and lots of rock will be moved to seed the new tank. I have a lot of dry rock left over, wondering if it's a bad idea to create roughly 40-50 golf ball sized rock islands to mimic a substrate.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Hmm interesting idea….i want to know too

 

[Jekyl]

Large rocks and a wet saw could give you flat pieces and could look good completely covering. Select cuts could add even more personality with rocks coming up from what seems underneath.

 

[cilyjr]

I did something similar when I was in between my big tanks. A 40 gallon breeder. I used foam to create a faux Rock bottom.
That was never a spectacular tank and it didn't run that long. But the idea is sound.

One of the The challenges are you have a larger surface that can get covered with invasive algae. If I were going to do something like this I would definitely give the Rock you are going to use for the base a muriatic acid bath.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

I did something similar when I was in between my big tanks. A 40 gallon breeder. I used foam to create a faux Rock bottom.
That was never a spectacular tank and it didn't run that long. But the idea is sound.

One of the The challenges are you have a larger surface that can get covered with invasive algae. If I were going to do something like this I would definitely give the Rock you are going to use for the base a muriatic acid bath.

But how would a muriatic acid help down the line? It’s not gonna keep algae off it forever.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

sounds interesting! im sure it would look nice. my question would be how would you keep it and underneath it clean

 

[Reefing_addiction]

sounds interesting! im sure it would look nice. my question would be how would you keep it and underneath it clean

Would you clean underneath it though? Wouldn’t that be like cleaning underneath your sand?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

idk. would it build up underneath from stuff sifting down through? you couldnt really have the sand sifting crew for turnover...

 

[Reefing_addiction]

idk. would it build up underneath from stuff sifting down through? you couldnt really have the sand sifting crew for turnover...

Eeew I could imagine all the fish poop

 

[EricR]

idk. would it build up underneath from stuff sifting down through? you couldnt really have the sand sifting crew for turnover...

My first thought was the same,,, otherwise it's an interesting idea.
*in contrast, there are at least some proponents of untouched sand, although I vacuum mine

P.S. I also am not a fan of bare bottom (visually)

 

[littlefoxx]

You would not be able to have certain fish like wrasse that sleep in the sand, sand sifting gobies, sleeper goby and other fish like that. I also did try something in a tank when I did freshwater and that did not go well. Hard to clean and nasty looking. All my salt tanks have sand

 

[MrGisonni]

I would epoxy and super glue the rocks down to a piece of acrylic board to the size of the tank. Cut all kinds of random pieces in half with a tile saw so you have one nice flat surface. Set the finished piece down on the bottom of the aquarium probably on silicon and sealed at the edges to avoid anoxic zones under. You could even fill in little gaps in the mosaic with a tiny bit of live sand. I have a piece of textured beige acrylic as my
"barebottom" mixed reef and often times I'll take corals on rocks and glue them down and certain places to isolate them.

 

[Boberto]

The cleaning and avoiding algae is the hard part. Could a pattern of paths between rocks roughly 1-1.5inches like a little maze be enough or would you all recommend a bit wider? Enough for snails to get in there and flow to keep most waste suspended. It wouldn't be worth the time it to glue and seal some 40 rocks down.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

interesting. if you do it, be sure and post a picture!

 

[Jekyl]

You could raise everything off the glass half to an inch. Provide a method of flow underneath. @Lasse @Paul B what do you think of something like this? In theory it sounds like a good place to harbor all kinds of life. Especially if there's room for fish to dwell hidden away. As is in Paul's tank somewhat.

 

[Lasse]

Hi - this tank was rather like a rock bottom tank.


I use very coarse coral sand - 3 - 8 mm and a lot of small rubble - it works well for 7 years as long as I had a lot of CUC. There was an incident there nearly all of my CUC and half of my fish die and after that I did not have it to work very well. However - I think that the incident was caused of high potassium concentrations not anything biological that happens in the aquarium.

One idea if you want to go with only rubble of stones is to place plates of the old type of under gravel filter. 1 or two tubes going up. - Something like this

​

One or two powerheads - either pushing water up or down or air lifts pushing water up-

The backslash with this is that you probably not going to have anaerobic zones for denitrification in the gravel.

The NO3 level in my old aquarium - not a clue - there was no good NO3 measuring methods for saltwater at that time. (2013 - 2019)

Sincerely Lasse

 

[MrGisonni]

I don't know whether I'd go as far as an undergravel filter again. They were the best we had 30 years ago. I would attach the rock to an acrylic sheet and silicone that to the bottom. I have an acrylic sheet in my aquarium. Coraline algae grows on it, it's easy to siphon I can scrape it if I need to. I've attached a bunch of corals and rocks and shells onto the bottom of it. A barebottom looks great if take the time. IMHO

If I were going to do what you're thinking, and really do it right, I would get a tile saw involved and create a mosaic that was easy to clean and siphon on a sheet of acrylic.

 

[MrGisonni]

 

[MrGisonni]

 

[smitten with ocean life]

I don't know whether I'd go as far as an undergravel filter again. They were the best we had 30 years ago. I would attach the rock to an acrylic sheet and silicone that to the bottom. I have an acrylic sheet in my aquarium. Coraline algae grows on it, it's easy to siphon I can scrape it if I need to. I've attached a bunch of corals and rocks and shells onto the bottom of it. A barebottom looks great if take the time. IMHO

If I were going to do what you're thinking, and really do it right, I would get a tile saw involved and create a mosaic that was easy to clean and siphon on a sheet of acrylic.

very nice!!