Rock bottom tank??

[WillKatt]

So I am gearing up to finish my 200 build and have been long contemplating if I should go bare bottom or not. The big thing for me is I really like the idea of bare bottom and just cranking my flow but don't like the look of bare bottom tanks. I got to thinking what if I just covered the entire bottom in Marco prime cuts and made the entire bottom all rock?

This I think would look pretty good especially once its all encrusted in lps and varies monitiporas etc. Can anyone think of why this might be a bad idea? This tank will be 80% SPS and 20% or so LPS. I realize I will have no sand dwelling creatures or wrasses and im ok with that. Thats what my other tank is for all the stuff I cant have in this one.

This is basically what im talking about for those unfamiliar with prime cuts from Marco Rocks. I would just cut the pieces into tiles and lay them in perfectly.


What do yall think about this idea?

Like this only better fitted and on the bottom.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Only thing I can come up with is that it will catch and hold detritus in it, bout as bad if not worse than large crushed coral.

 

[wakeboardgeek]

Only thing I can come up with is that it will catch and hold detritus in it, bout as bad if not worse than large crushed coral.

I've thought about this for islands. You could maybe fill the holes in the flat side to help reduce detritus during the holes.

 

[Chameleon]

I think it defeats the purpose of barebottom as you will make areas for detritus to settle. You will be able to blast flow without having sand blow around, but you may not get the normal benefits for nutrient control of a bare bottom tank

 

[Mrfresh]

Paint the bottom of the tank white.
I did it with one of my frag tanks and it looks great!

 

[Reefing Madness]

Paint the bottom of the tank white.
I did it with one of my frag tanks and it looks great!

Theres a thought.

 

[markster33139]

I painted the bottom of mine black, and did the rock work as a series of interconnecting caves and swim throughs so you don't even notice the bottom

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Palting]

If I understand you correctly, you do not like the look of a bare bottom tank, but are afraid that cranking up the flow for an SPS dominant tank will disrupt any sand substrate. Did I get it right?

If I got it right, then what you REALLY want is a high flow SPS dominated tank with some kind of a cover for the bottom.

Well, that's what I've got . High flow (50X DT volume), SPS dominated (acros, seriotopora, etc), and a medium grain substrate (Arag Alive Hawaiian black). The substrate is 2"-3", wiggles a bit in some places but otherwise stays put, despite four 1500gph Koralias plus 1400gph return pointing downward. In over 3 years, the substrate granules are large enough that coralline can grow n them, some of the spawned coral can use them as anchors, but are still small enough that they can easily be stirred or vacuumed if you want to get rid of any detritus.

 

[Planedoc]

I saw a tank once where the guy mixed up some kind of clear epoxy and mixed sand into it and basically painted the bottom of the tank with an 1/8" layer of permanent sand.

 

[3dpilot]

Yup, looks like a detritus trap!! I agree with palting by using larger grain sand. I'm using caribsea seafloor with good results, but again it is a cool idea using rock bottom.