Thinking of going BB. Need guidance please!
 

It just kind of hit me this morning.. looking at BB tanks and hearing why people do it. It really makes a lot of sense...

I was just wanting to take a stab at the steps in going BB.. I think it would be good for many reasons, obviously for the sake of not having a bed of gunk basically build up on me...

My questions as of NOW (I am sure there will be plenty more)


Is there a way to remove the sand without actually tearing apart the tank?
IF I go BB, do I have to lay down starboard, or can I just leave it BB with the glass?
If I remove the sand I have now (which is a very, very shallow bed.. maybe 1-2") Will my tank go through any kind of spike? (taking into consideration I would be using the siphon method if possible)

That's it for now... seems like I would probably have much less nutrients in the tank by removing the sand. I figure my SPS might like this, and that perhaps nitrates and phosphates are somewhat reduced... plus, I don't mind the look of BB.

Thanks .
Scott

Not sure how well a YWG will do without a sandbed.
Something to consider.

Ahhh, Ryan.. thank you! That definitely did not yet cross my mind.

Bummer. Does anyone happen to know how well a YWG will do without a sand bed?

you should be able to vacume the gravel out then stain the water back thru a micron bag to clean the sedimant out.

One thing to watch is if your rock is sitting on the sand. Removing the sand may topple your rock work. To avoid any disruption in filtration, remove a little bit of sand with each water change until it's all gone.

Well i can actually see a difference in my tank. Before convertign overto a FOWLR. the reef that i had in my 62 gal tank. I was always cleaning the glass every day. So when came the time to clean out the DSb. I actually couldnt wait.

Now with my FOWLR i have the flow turned right up and man the bottom stays clean the glass is never dirty and the tank looks great. With this i might be adding a few clams to my wsump and have some MH lights over the sump to help with the nitrates.

But i will see once I start getting them i guess .

After going BB I cannot say how much I love it. So clean, no headaches. And I do it WITHOUT a skimmer. Which apparently is pretty hard they say? But I have no issues. My rocks shed quite a bit still. So you need to siphon the ditrius alot. Otherwise, its been rock solid steady. No algae blooms, no cyano. Its been a dream to run. I may make a small dam, 3 - 4 inches wide from the front so I can put a sandbed in for sand loving fish, but thats about it.. if I do it, I will be cleaning the sand every water change for sure.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Willow: Do you mean vacuum it out then put a micron bag inside the tank to collect floating junk?

Reef_Raf: Thanks for the advice.. I'll make sure to watch the rocks. Last thing I need is my rockwork toppling down.

Asmodeus: Glad to hear your enjoying the BB experience. I hope mine goes well.. if I decide to go through with it of course.

Chad: Glad to hear your enjoying your BB experience as well :D I will be runing a skimmer if I go BB.. I think my SPS will do better this way.


I am still wondering if a Yellow Watchman can live in a tank without a sandbed :confused: I really hope so, as this is something I would like to try. Anyone have any input?

siphon
 

use a rigid tube connected to flex tube to do your water changes. while siphoning, suck out the sand. after a number of water changes, you should start to see some glass depending on the thickness of your sandbed.
I am not posting to argue either way but i would recommend bb and thats what i'm in the process of doing with my tank. IMO sand just hides the crap we don't want to see nor do we want to believe exists in our tanks.

BTW- brads advice is good because i found my rocks have been shifting as i vacuum more and more sand with each water change.

i don't really see the need to put starboard on the bottom although i would consider a layer of acrylic. Also consider the faux pas sand bed as noted on this tread in RC with various options
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=392144

This has been my point of view on sand now. And after a quick turkey basting on my sand bed yesterday, and seeing the clouds of ..... crap coming up just made me think of whats being trapped down there.

At the same time, I feel bad taking out the sand... I'll be killing off a lot of slugs and worms this way.

Lastly Chin, your link did not work for me, and I am a bit slow.. I don't understand your siphon method. Either way, I am sure I can put two and two together and figure it out ! Thanks a lot.

Last question still remains... can a YWG live and thrive without a sandbed? :neutral: