If I go barebottom with the new tank...

[ACBlinky]

I've been researching, trying to decide whether to go with shallow or deeper sand, coarse or fine grain, pink or aragonite or black... or barebottom.

I'm leaning towards barebottom at this point -- it just seems so clean, so much less messy, less inclined to develop phosphate problems. I had issues with water clarity in the old tank, and cranked up the flow which helped, but you can only move water so much in a tank with a sandbed before you start to get sandstorms. If I go BB I can really blow the water around and stop detritus settling (or at least see where it is and siphon it out). It seems to be a good solution.

Here's my question. Do I try to get custom-cut Starboard that fits the entire bottom, around the overflow? Is starboard/HDPE just for looks, or is it necessary to protect the glass? I see that some people just go with bare glass, and that seems easier than siliconing boards to the glass. I have loads of eggcrate, I can use that to avoid point-loads from rock towers, but I would use pieces under the towers, not cover the entire tank bottom.

My thought was that I'd paint the OUTSIDE of the bottom pane of glass with one of those pebble-type spraypaints, in a sand colour. The bottom will end up covered in coralline and coral eventually, but in the meantime it should look a bit more natural and not be as expensive or difficult as putting in an HDPE bottom. Any major disadvantage to keeping the bottom truly bare, just the glass?

Opinions? Thoughts? Bad idea? I'm thankful for any and all advice

[andycook]

Comes down to personal taste. For this tank I went BB. Last big tank was DSB. I have starboard sealed with silicone. I used starboard strictly for the white look.

[Cubeman]

I started my first bare bottom tank a few months ago. Looks great when its clean but within a few days of a water change and siphon you can see every speck of detritus. Its sort of like the difference between having carpet and wood floors. I'm going back to sand (carpet); I know the dirt is there but I can't see it between cleanings.

[ridetheducati]

Originally Posted by ACBlinky

I've been researching, trying to decide whether to go with shallow or deeper sand, coarse or fine grain, pink or aragonite or black... or barebottom.

I'm leaning towards barebottom at this point -- it just seems so clean, so much less messy, less inclined to develop phosphate problems. I had issues with water clarity in the old tank, and cranked up the flow which helped, but you can only move water so much in a tank with a sandbed before you start to get sandstorms. If I go BB I can really blow the water around and stop detritus settling (or at least see where it is and siphon it out). It seems to be a good solution.

Here's my question. Do I try to get custom-cut Starboard that fits the entire bottom, around the overflow? Is starboard/HDPE just for looks, or is it necessary to protect the glass? I see that some people just go with bare glass, and that seems easier than siliconing boards to the glass. I have loads of eggcrate, I can use that to avoid point-loads from rock towers, but I would use pieces under the towers, not cover the entire tank bottom.

My thought was that I'd paint the OUTSIDE of the bottom pane of glass with one of those pebble-type spraypaints, in a sand colour. The bottom will end up covered in coralline and coral eventually, but in the meantime it should look a bit more natural and not be as expensive or difficult as putting in an HDPE bottom. Any major disadvantage to keeping the bottom truly bare, just the glass?

Opinions? Thoughts? Bad idea? I'm thankful for any and all advice

Try BB for a year and add sand later if you do not like it. Over the years, I have used all the methods. Personally, prefer the shallow bed. There are advantages and disadvantages to every method. What is more important to your style of reef keeping? I will leave you with one BB tip. Ensure your skimmer is more than adequate and slow the flow through sump. You want the detritus to fall out in the sump not the tank. This is assuming you have plenty of flow (powerheads) in the display.

Originally Posted by Cubeman

I started my first bare bottom tank a few months ago. Looks great when its clean but within a few days of a water change and siphon you can see every speck of detritus. Its sort of like the difference between having carpet and wood floors. I'm going back to sand (carpet); I know the dirt is there but I can't see it between cleanings.

Proper flow and weekly water changes will maintain a pristine BB display.

[ACBlinky]

Thank you all for the replies!

I want to add a fourth Koralia pump to the display, so there will be LOADS of water movement. I use a filter sock in the sump, as well as the skimmer and a dual reactor with GFO and carbon. In the old tank detritus was a major issue; I could get enough flow to get it off the rockwork, but because I couldn't have too much flow near the sand, half of it just settled into the sandbed and needed to be siphoned out. Any time sand was moved to a significant degree by a fish or crab, the water would cloud. I don't want to keep a dirt farm, but I do love the look of sand.

I think I'll probably go BB and then I have the option to add sand if I find it's not working for me.

I'm a bit concerned about not using starboard or something else under the rocks, do people really invest that much time, effort and money just for looks, or is it because it's safer/better than using the glass bottom as the tank substrate?

[cugly]

Ya I tried all of them dsb, bb, and shallow. ..I like the shallow the best..and I uesd medium reef grade and it doesnt blow away as bad..im running mp40 full blast and a couple of korallia the shallow is easier to maintain I just vacuum section at a time when I do water change ..I think it looks natural..but then everoyone have their own preference so whatever works for you..u can always add sand

[TheGodParticle]

Originally Posted by Cubeman

I started my first bare bottom tank a few months ago. Looks great when its clean but within a few days of a water change and siphon you can see every speck of detritus. Its sort of like the difference between having carpet and wood floors. I'm going back to sand (carpet); I know the dirt is there but I can't see it between cleanings.

Yes! This was my exact reason for switching back to a sand bottom! Glad somebody else felt my irritation. The analogy I liked to use was; imagine mopping and cleaning your hardwood floors. Over the next couple of days imagine someone sprinkling dirt all over your clean floor little by little. Once you get a little bit of dirt on the floor it no longer looks clean. I always fought this and it made the tank look dirty and I was always in there trying to siphon stuff out just to have it look dirty again in a day.

[biggles]

I have always found that the light reflected off a white sand bed benefits corals placed low in the tank. I have porites that receives no direct light growing on the underside of a rock overhang which tells me there is a benefit to sand in this regard.

[ashish]

I've been bb in my 120 for the past 3 months. There's nothing like going BB, you can't cause a mess or storm in your tank. Like you said No clowdiness associated with having sandbed. Also, having flow in every area of the tank was amazing; the aquarium does really stay crystal clear and it's very easy to siphon the bb (takes few minutes each water change).

However, I do feel going BB you lose a lot of the light reflection of substrate. Also, it's not natural at all for your fish, corals, & especially inverts. Think about it..where is the light going on a BB? Right threw the bottom glass and to the stand. My stand was painted white and it still was not reflecting like sand. You just can't paint the outer side of the bottom glass and expect to have the same effect as sand.

Today, I put 10 lbs of sand in my 120...I have extra sand bags but figured It's just for the look/reflection for my acro's base. So go BB for awhile and if you don't like it do what I did.. Put 1lb per 12 gallons of water. Recently i posted a thread regarding my staghorns base which is suffering. Someone recommended putting sand in my tank (I didn't even tell him I was BB but he knew based on how my staghorn looks)... Figured now's the time to go with very little bit of sand. 10lbs of sand in my tank is pretty much BB.. Unfortunately i cant keep sand on the right side of my tank since the pumps just blow it to on on corner. Not a problem just add some flat pierce of LR there.

[andycook]

That is why I have white starboard down on the bottom of my tank. It is white like sand and reflects the light.

[ACBlinky]

I've found a source for HDPE, went with 1/4" rather than 1/2" which is REALLY pricey... I cut the pieces to size with a small pull saw yesterday.

I see no difference between light reflecting off of white sand, or white starboard, and I can't wait to see how clean I can keep this tank. The more I think about sand, the more it grosses me out -- it's a detritus collection area, a giant nutrient sink that's hard to keep clean.

I bought another Koralia pump (for a grand total of four), and plan to try and direct some of the flow towards the bottom so detritus can't settle. Hopefully this will be the cleanest tank we've ever had

I'm going to make a build thread with pictures of the tank move, starboard installation, and re-installation of the rockwork and livestock, for anyone who wants to follow along. The big move is on Tuesday, pictures should be up starting Wednesday.

One thing I have to say in favour going BB... You can't grow frags directly on the sand We're gong to try attaching some zoas, GSP, mushrooms etc. to the bottom to see if they'll grow there; I've seen some pictures of frags overgrowing the bottom, it's a great look.

[biggles]

Originally Posted by ACBlinky

I see no difference between light reflecting off of white sand, or white starboard, and I can't wait to see how clean I can keep this tank. The more I think about sand, the more it grosses me out -- it's a detritus collection area, a giant nutrient sink that's hard to keep clean.

As long as the starboard is not the opaque white variety and you keep it clean of coralline algae i'm sure you will get the benefits of a white sand bed without the gross bits lol. I've seen those BB tanks with corals all over the bottom glass and they can look amazing, hope to see you do it - i'll be following your build.

[sporto0]

I look at it simply like this, the OCEAN has a sand bed, that's enough for me.

[ACBlinky]

Originally Posted by sporto0

I look at it simply like this, the OCEAN has a sand bed, that's enough for me.

That's true, in part. Many reef zones are actually all rock, without sand beneath. Other areas are mostly sand, with macroalgae and very few corals. the ocean also has 1001 ways to deal with nutrient buildup in the sandbed. No area of the ocean/reef zone looks like a typical reef tank with many different types of coral crammed into a small space; whether DSB, SSB, or BB, our tanks are always going to differ from the natural environment in one way or another.

It depends what you want, and I think it's worth trying BB; it will be easy to add sand later if I'm not happy with the way this works out, but removing sand to go BB is a HUGE chore.

[ashish]

I prefer a very shallow sand bed than a white starboard. Simply because the white starboard will eventually turn into a brown,purple starboard lol. At least with a shallow bed you can keep it white and replace it often (as long as you have just a little bit of sand).. The 10 lb of sand in my 120 looks awesome. However, the entire front right side of the tank had become BB since the flow on that corner is nuts. I might just add some crush coral to that bare side.

[Terrance]

Will coralline algae look good on the bottom glass?

[worm5406]

Lets see some pictures.

[ACBlinky]

If the picture request was directed at me... they'll be up within a day or two. Our tank arrives tomorrow and, barring catastrophe, the re-build should be finished within a few days

[worm5406]

OK and Yes it was.