To go bare bottom or not

[Tomlagoon]

anyone do a coarse rubble bottom instead of sand?

Never rubbler here - traps detritus.

 

[BeachBumTX]

Good idea ! I love B.B tanks, are you going glass bottom ?

My input: I've had glass bottoms before that was how I first ran bare bottom tanks, but the last two tanks I currently have running I put an ABS sheet over the bottom, siliconed in place. The coralline algae takes off, it covers the ABS befor it even starts on the glass walls, I believe it speeds up the process, and it protects the glass.

Does coraline grow faster on acrylic than glass? Built a custom tank out of acrylic. Doing bare bottom.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Does coraline grow faster on acrylic than glass? Built a custom tank out of acrylic. Doing bare bottom.

I'm not sure about acrylic, I've never had one but I'll say on the abs bottom and plastic overflows gets it way before the glass does, I would assume acrylic is similar to plastics but im not sure.

 

[Chalchi]

Are the hermit crabs (or crabs in general) able to move on the bare bottom?

 

[Miami Reef]

I don’t think I’ll have another tank with sand again.

If you like super high flow: go bare bottom.

Ha! Would you look at that…

I use sand now.

Barebottom is good for many reasons, but sand looks much better lol.

 

[Smoke-Town]

I would only do barebottom if you plan on quickly covering the bottom with encrusting corals... simply for anesthetics imo... personally I think a tank with sand looks way more attractive and all the sand dwelling creatures are some of my personal favorites.

People say sand is hard... but it's part of the reef imo... anyone can just have a coral frag stock tank like a fish store... that's not attractive to me... and part of why we do this hobby is because of the satisfaction of overcoming all the challenges... makes the end result much more rewarding... I mean if we are just looking for an easy fish tank then why not get rid of the coral while we're at it and just do a planted fowlr... to me the sand is part of the challenge... and I wouldn't delete it for the sake of it being easier without it. Easy isn't why I'm into this hobby.

That being said... I do have a low boy 16 inch tall sps dominated reef and I will certainly agree that keeping the sand out of the water column on a very shallow sps tank like this is indeed difficult to dial in... but again... the challenge is part of the game for me... in hindsight, 4-10 more inches of depth would be ideal and when this system gets upgraded and this tank turns into a frag tank, I will go deeper.... but I will not delete sand. I see a nice sand bed as badge of honor that showcases success and dedication... my sand bed is not there yet... but that is a goal of mine and part of the fun of a reef tank is the journey, not just the destination.

I do enjoy seeing barebottoms covered in zoas or gsp or encrusting months though... but rarely do I actually see that in a bsrebottom... usually just a bunch of glass with spots of different colored coraline and a few patches of sps... if I see glass on the bottom, I don't like the look personally... and that goes for my sand bottom tank also when my powerheads make a bald spot... can't stand that.

 

[gbru316]

It really boils down to what you want to do.

If you're willing to deal with higher maintenance for the aesthetics of sand, go for it. If you'd prefer low maintenance over aesthetics, go barebottom.

Though, it's important to note that barebottom tanks often take longer to mature.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Ha! Would you look at that…

I use sand now.

Barebottom is good for many reasons, but sand looks much better lol.

Looks better sure at first, not when those diatoms kick in, also when your fighting to lower nutrients in a year bare bottom starts to look better and better.

 

[Bent17]

So what had you decided? As I am looking into removing my sand and curious to know how things are 2 yrs after