Sharing my barebottom reef tank

GOSKN5 · Mar 24, 2015

I see a ton of threads on here and posts on FB etc about barebottom vs sand etc...
someone always says they can't "stand the look" and "it's not natural" to each his own and not debating that... also not debating benefits vs sand etc...

I just wanted to make sure I had a thread that shows up when searching for barebottom reef... I have posted most of these in various places...

I did barebottom a little differently.. painted the underside white, which I think looks fine... I love the ease of cleaning... I scrape the bottom, suck out the detrius from the corners and go... I always struggled with keeping the sand as white as I wanted... this works for me... not for everyone and I certainly respect that...

**i have an acrylic wall in back of tank holding a 6"x6" deep sandbed for my wrasses to sleep**

Pics..

kschweer · Mar 24, 2015

Beautiful tank. The white bottom looks really good.

jeffp1 · Mar 24, 2015

Hard to tell you don't have sand. Looks good

metro6775 · Mar 24, 2015

What are you using for light?

GOSKN5 · Mar 24, 2015

Thanks yall... lighting is 2 AI hydras...

kendavjac · Mar 25, 2015

Very nice

Aussie Reefer · Mar 25, 2015

Lookin
sharp!

Tahoe61 · Mar 25, 2015

Really nice, not your average tank.

eliramos · Mar 25, 2015

If I didn't want a wrasse dominant tank this is what I would do in my 240

Daniel@R2R · Mar 25, 2015

Super cool! Thanks for sharing! :thumb:

creefer · Mar 25, 2015

Great looking tank. If you don't mind me asking, what are the dimensions and do you have more information / pics on the "wrasse sleeping area" you mentioned? I'm in the planning phase of a new build and LOVE wrasses, but have become less of a fan of sand over the years.

TIA.

SeahorseKeeper · Mar 25, 2015

Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!!

iReef86 · Mar 25, 2015

Love it! Looks great! The sandy look without the hassle!

MrDJeep123 · Mar 25, 2015

When I first looked, I didn't believe you.

Nice setup.

GOSKN5 · Mar 26, 2015

creefer said:
Great looking tank. If you don't mind me asking, what are the dimensions and do you have more information / pics on the "wrasse sleeping area" you mentioned? I'm in the planning phase of a new build and LOVE wrasses, but have become less of a fan of sand over the years.

TIA.

Thanks for all the comment yall...

The tank is a deep blue shallow 80 48x24x16

Here is an overhead shot of the wrasse crib... basically I took about a 12" piece of acrylic and used a dab of silicone to attach each end to hold the sand...

creefer · Mar 26, 2015

Thanks for the pic, GOSKN5. Much appreciated. Again, very nice tank you have.

GOSKN5 · Mar 27, 2015

No problem at all, thanks for looking...

bontrager · Mar 28, 2015

kschweer said:
Beautiful tank. The white bottom looks really good.

+ 1; I'm going that way. I will paint the bottom white also. What type of paint adheres to glass.

GOSKN5 · Mar 28, 2015

Any spray paint will work... remember this on the outside of the tank... Figured everyone knew that, but didn't want to mislead anyone...

Also you can use textured paint and it gives even more of a sand look... cool thing is if you don't like it grab a razor blade and scrape it clean and start again... tape off the tank with newspaper for overspray

bontrager · Mar 28, 2015

Thank you for the quick reply. I will see if I can find white textured paint in a spray can. If not I'll go with a base white.

Do you apply more that one coat?

am going to go with an Innovation Marine fusion 20 gallon and and a skimmer. Need to learn to do a better job with water parameters