http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...008#post226008
Sry had too

One thing I did on my 48 when I went bare bottom was to paint the outside bottom. This really helped visually. There is no reflection and makes it look a bit more natural esp before you get bottom growth. The only thing I regret was doing it in black as I had a slight heat problem, but it looked great. Next time, I'm going to get a bit fancier. I paint landscapes as a hobby, so I may try and make the bottom look like rocks, sand and rubble. Another option would be to find some prefab wallpaper or shelf paper already designed to look like a seafloor, but I can't say I remember ever seeing one.

reply
 

Here ya go Mark.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...128#post226128

If I had more time I would have liked to try a foam bottom. A friend of mine did a foam wall on the back of his tank that turned out very well. Painted it various colors of purple a green to simulate coraline growth. I think it would make a really cool bottom.

What's your Bare bottom Like?
 

Quite nice actually IMO- oh mean in my tanks. I have a 190g and a 100g that are both BB. On the 190 I have black starboard that is basically covered in coralline so you really don't see that much of it but it does stop the light from my sump/fuge from leaking through. On my 100g cube the stand is painted dark brown under the tank so I just left it as is (glass). It is still fairly new so no real build up of coralline.
I love BB tanks as they are so much easier to see and get the crud out. I like the look as well but a lot of people prefer the look of sand.

I still can't find my camera, so here's an older shot.

It's been filling up nicely with spots of coralline here and there.

http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?i...scf0525ev5.jpg

I thought a lot about BB tanks and I've got a fair few FW tanks that are like it and, to be honest, I really don't care for the look - I find it just looks... empty - I wanted to like it, but the sand is just so pretty and natural!

Mine look like Mikes. I don't really find much detritus that is "suck-a-upable". It's more like sand coming from the rocks. I imagine rock breakdown will create a sandbed in time.

I saw seahorse fanatics tank which is bare bottom and it looks great. I imagine it takes a long time though for all the coraline to get to the point where it looks like a bottom rather than all the bare glass. I was thinking about a bare bottom but was also hoping to get a pistol shrimp and goby, I wonder about putting a small barrier of sorts with a 2 inch sand bed for the goby/shrimp and then covering/disguising the sides with live rock rubble... Any thoughts as to whether this would be feasable or just cancel out the idea of the bare bottom.

Doug

If you have adequate waterflow, I imagine the sand would get dispersed around in time. I'm sure the goby would help with the dispersion, too!! But it's a cool idea...maybe worth a try?