Star Polyps and zoa covering entire bare bottom?

[MRRBW]

I'm considering making my new 30gallon bare bottom and getting star polyps (green and purple) and maybe some zoas to cover the glass. There will be maybe 2 rock island setups with anemones as the primary focus of the tank. Anyone do this type of bare bottom idea? I haven't seen any photos of this doing google searches and such. Love anyone's input/ photos of their attempt at his idea

 

[GOSKN5]

I had it in two separate tanks with GSP... it wasn't completely covered, but a good portion. It looks awesome for sure, but there are drawbacks IMO...

First, eventually the GSP reached the rocks and it was hard to keep it away in all area
Second, and the biggest for me, it traps SO much detritus. The idea of a BB tank (at least for me) is to allow me to siphon out detritus, by making it congregate in one area. This helps with nutrients and aesthetics. The GSP mat was eventually a detritus trap on top and under it. I thought about doing it again in my current tank which is BB, but decided against it for that reason... counteracts the main benefit of BB for me...

 

[Shep]

Yea it would look awesome, I have given it a lot of thought over the years but A) it will without a doubt get on the rock and that will be a problem and B) you won't be able to put corals on the bottom, so you will a lot of real-estate space

 

[MRRBW]

I had it in two separate tanks with GSP... it wasn't completely covered, but a good portion. It looks awesome for sure, but there are drawbacks IMO...

First, eventually the GSP reached the rocks and it was hard to keep it away in all area
Second, and the biggest for me, it traps SO much detritus. The idea of a BB tank (at least for me) is to allow me to siphon out detritus, by making it congregate in one area. This helps with nutrients and aesthetics. The GSP mat was eventually a detritus trap on top and under it. I thought about doing it again in my current tank which is BB, but decided against it for that reason... counteracts the main benefit of BB for me...

definitely see what you're saying. I'm not going for a bare bottom though. I'm either going to attempt this gsp covered bottom or put sand. I'm not really a fan of bare bottom tanks despite agreeing with the benefits it can give you. Do you have any pics of your tank with the gsp covering the bottom?

Yea it would look awesome, I have given it a lot of thought over the years but A) it will without a doubt get on the rock and that will be a problem and B) you won't be able to put corals on the bottom, so you will a lot of real-estate space

I don't mind too much of it getting on the rock, I'll just take it off or kill it off the rocks. The goal is to have the rocks covered with anemones. I'm also not looking to place corals on the bottom either, so not such an issue in this tank. You know of anyone with this setup or pics of it?

 

[Eckolancer]

I'm in the processor covering the bottom of the tank in zoas and acans right now. Even with zoas the detritus builds up between polyps.

 

[GOSKN5]

I have two pics of it early on.. it never did cover the entire bottom but on both tanks it was a large patch covering a good portion..

Here in my old 30 shallow

Here in shallow 80 (there was more but I can't seem to find a more recent pic of it grown in... there were two patches that grew together on the left side)

 

[MRRBW]

very nice. I'm still torn and undecided which direction to take it. At worst, I may try it and if it doesn't look as nice as i thought or becomes a real pita, then i can always take it out and put sand in.