what do i need to know about bare bottom reef tanks

[Joe G]

Wow thanks for all the great input Craig and every one else who offered there input .
VIP reef. Where is your store .

I did get black star board and i think I will silcon it down.
My sump will have extra sand rock and cheato.
I have never run bio pellets before Pete but will read up on it.
I was just gonna run gfo / carbon reactor from bulk reef .
Is that a possible alternative to the bio pellets ?

 

[Pete polyp]

No, carbon and gfo don't consume nitrate. In the past I have always used a deep sand bed to consume nitrate. I chose to use the biopellets in the place of that instead since there will be no sand in my system. Another reason I chose the route I went is because I want to stock heavy on fish. With carbon dosing, whether it be vodka, vinegar or biopellets gives the ability to stretch the stocking limitations before this came about.

 

[VIPReef]

VIP reef. Where is your store .

16300 SW 137 Ave #110
Miami, FL 33177

This is our display tank using the same black starboard bottom you want to use. Sorry about the milky appearance I had just used Coralsnow.

 

[Joe G]

Wow very impressive tank

 

[Joe G]

Pete , I don't stick many fish .
Most likely gonna have a less then 10 fish .
3 Cromis1 clown 1 wrasse 1 tang and maybe a pair if bartlets or cardinals. .

 

[berbotty]

I use a mini shop vac with those tiny car attachments

 

[Pete polyp]

Pete , I don't stick many fish .
Most likely gonna have a less then 10 fish .
3 Cromis1 clown 1 wrasse 1 tang and maybe a pair if bartlets or cardinals. .

Ok, I am planning to have 3 wrasse (flashers) 1 kole tang, 3 firefish and 1 purple firefish. I plan on having a heavy sps population, and with the large amount of fish they shouldn't be hungry. I also intend to feed heavy amounts of food in this tank such as coral frenzy, reef roids, oyster feast and rods complete. So there's definitely plans for a large organic intake with my system.

There's many methods of nitrate removal for us. Usually live rock doesn't have a large enough area for anaerobic bacteria to live. So (usually) live rock is not very efficient at removing nitrate. Skimming will prevent organic material from even starting to decompose, but it is useless to remove nitrate once its there. A deep sand bed is very effective at removing nitrate due to the large area anaerobic bacteria can thrive. Macro algae will consume nitrate, but to be efficient there has to be a large refugium with lots of it. Adding a carbon source (vodka, vinegar or biopellet) will consume nitrates very well and can be adjusted to suit the needs of the tank.

With my setup and having a large population of fish that will produce waste that can't be skimmed I chose to have biopellets along side of skimming and having a refugium. Also the bacteria that breaks free from the pellets can be absorbed as food for the corals.