So I want to go Barebottom...

[DSC reef]

I get what your saying but I think it is always better to be safe than sorry and taking it slow is the best option as my tank is now finally at full capacity and I would like to keep it that way.

Good idea. I always liked the bare bottom look but we actually might go back to sand on our next build.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Good idea. I always liked the bare bottom look but we actually might go back to sand on our next build.

Thats funny cause I made my new tank BB because of a couple variables I saw were benefits and I like it so much that I wanted to change my reef to bare bottom lol. Sand looks nice but I always end up getting it in my cleaner and scratching the tank. Also I have been having stuff in the watercolumn forever now and I cannot seem to filter it out I believe it is sand particles. Do berghia nudis live in sand hopefully not as I just put 20 in two weeks ago.

 

[DSC reef]

I'm not sure about the berghia. There's pros and cons to each for sure. There's fish we'd like to keep that require sand. Good thing about bare bottom is you can really crank the flow.

 

[Crabs McJones]

You 75 gallon is not a 180 gallon. And your assuming your bioload and his are the same? Why not be safe than sorry. Just because you did it successfully doesn't mean everybody can or should do the same. Way to many variables. To the OP, go slow with this please.

Agreed, just because it works for one doesn't always mean it'll work for another!

 

[Dilan Patel]

I'm not sure about the berghia. There's pros and cons to each for sure. There's fish we'd like to keep that require sand. Good thing about bare bottom is you can really crank the flow.

Agree, This never would have been an option if I had both my melenarus and red corris wrasse. They didn't die I had to give them up due to them might being a predator to the berghias. Hated giving them up the corris was 1 year old and did do anything bad as well as my melenarus was 2 years old

 

[Crabs McJones]

Good idea. I always liked the bare bottom look but we actually might go back to sand on our next build.

Really? Because i've been considering going bare bottom in mine! ;Hilarious The MP10's blow a bare spot in the front of the tank anyway and it gets all over everything. So I was considering removing my sand eventually lol.

 

[DSC reef]

Agree, This never would have been an option if I had both my melenarus and red corris wrasse. They didn't die I had to give them up due to them might being a predator to the berghias. Hated giving them up the corris was 1 year old and did do anything bad as well as my melenarus was 2 years old

Its tough getting rid of fish, we know and been there but we made sure they got good homes. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Keep a close eye on params. Might be anecdotal but I noticed we dosed a bit more alkalinity without substrate.

 

[DSC reef]

Really? Because i've been considering going bare bottom in mine! ;Hilarious The MP10's blow a bare spot in the front of the tank anyway and it gets all over everything. So I was considering removing my sand eventually lol.

I love bare bottom but I think our next build will be fish only for a while. Once we start adding coral I'm going to have a rock for everything and not to many SPS. If you go bare bottom try to create an open scape so the extra flow does it's job. I was surprised to see how much gunk built up in areas I couldn't reach when we broke down the reef.

 

[JMM744]

Dilan, I did what you are doing with my 40 breeder a year ago. I used water changes to vacuum the sand out. I took mostly sand and as little water as possible. You’ll be suprised how much you can get out at a time. Add fresh salt water to fill the void. By using suction to remove it you get all the gunk under it and it doesn’t get in the water column.
Good luck getting it done. Bare bottom is my choice every time.
Jim

 

[tiggs]

I agree with the others. Take out a couple cups of sand at a clip and accompany that with a water change to clean out what you'd be mixing up into the water column.

Another thing to mention is you may have another option if you want to keep the sand, but are just sick of dealing with it getting blown around. I had a similar situation recently because I made the mistake of using Bahamas Oolite sand, which is very very small grained. It was impossible for me to have enough flow for SPS going through all of my tank and not blow it all over the place. My solution for a bit was to blow my flow into the rock work, but I had a few dead spots and you could really tell it wasn't cutting it. What I ended up doing was adding about a half inch of thicker grade reef sand on top of it and I've been fine ever since. I was able to reposition my Vortech where I really wanted it and up the flow significantly without any sand storms. One thing to point out if you do go this route, it's important to really make sure your current sand is clean and detritus free or else you'll cap nitrates in when adding the new sand and creating a nitrogen pocket that could be disturbed later. Just figured this was worth mentioning.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Dilan, I did what you are doing with my 40 breeder a year ago. I used water changes to vacuum the sand out. I took mostly sand and as little water as possible. You’ll be suprised how much you can get out at a time. Add fresh salt water to fill the void. By using suction to remove it you get all the gunk under it and it doesn’t get in the water column.
Good luck getting it done. Bare bottom is my choice every time.
Jim

How did you get mostly sand out? I mostly got water and little bit of sand lol. I guess It doesn't hurt since I haven't done waterchanges before on the tank. I just stuck the hose in the sand waited till all the sand was gone and then moved to the next spot.

 

[Dilan Patel]

I agree with the others. Take out a couple cups of sand at a clip and accompany that with a water change to clean out what you'd be mixing up into the water column.

Another thing to mention is you may have another option if you want to keep the sand, but are just sick of dealing with it getting blown around. I had a similar situation recently because I made the mistake of using Bahamas Oolite sand, which is very very small grained. It was impossible for me to have enough flow for SPS going through all of my tank and not blow it all over the place. My solution for a bit was to blow my flow into the rock work, but I had a few dead spots and you could really tell it wasn't cutting it. What I ended up doing was adding about a half inch of thicker grade reef sand on top of it and I've been fine ever since. I was able to reposition my Vortech where I really wanted it and up the flow significantly without any sand storms. One thing to point out if you do go this route, it's important to really make sure your current sand is clean and detritus free or else you'll cap nitrates in when adding the new sand and creating a nitrogen pocket that could be disturbed later. Just figured this was worth mentioning.

I tried that lol but the heavier sand still moved. I am running gyre xf250's and I have those cranked to 100% I love flow after what I was taught a few months ago about PE and flow.

 

[tiggs]

I tried that lol but the heavier sand still moved. I am running gyre xf250's and I have those cranked to 100% I love flow after what I was taught a few months ago about PE and flow.

wow that's a ton of flow! lol. I think bare bottom is probably you're only realistic option then with them cranked up to 100%. I'm a flow junky as well, but you have trumped me, sir

 

[Dilan Patel]

lol

 

[Dilan Patel]

SO I just performed the second 5gallon waterchange. It seems to be going well! I might do a second one later this evening if all looks good? Thoughts on this. Maybe not do a waterchange but maybe take a couple scoops of sand out? I feel like this will take a lot of salt to get what I want done.

 

[DSC reef]

I'm sure a few scoops won't hurt but I'd stick with removing sand with water changes. When I started removing sand from our reef tank I used a 1" diameter tube and sucked out the sand very quickly at 5 gallons at a time.

 

[TexasTodd]

Starboard? When I ran a couple of systems BB everyone put Starboard down to protect the glass. Are people skipping that now?
As for getting rid of sand I'd siphon it.

 

[Dilan Patel]

how many waterchanges did u do in a week? can i do it everyday since t is a small amount? ehh i dont lile atarboard lol i lile the glass look

 

[DSC reef]

how many waterchanges did u do in a week? can i do it everyday since t is a small amount? ehh i dont lile atarboard lol i lile the glass look

For the 75 gallon I always did 15 gallons a week for a water change but only pulled out sand in one 5 gallon bucket a week. I didn't want to rush anything.

 

[Dilan Patel]

The thing is this will take a couple months if I do it once a week in a 5 gallon bucket so Im going to have to do a couple a week to make progress. Im thinking three times a week with a couple scoops of sand if I am able too. The whole sand bed wont be removed due to it being hard to get to the back of the rockwork.