I can't belive it... I've gone barebottom!
 

It just sorta happened. I was moving my livestock over to the new 20gal that I got from Bow Valley Aquariums and I notced all of the "crud" that was in my sandbed. When I set up the new tank I left the sand out and I have to say, I actually like the looks of it. The other nice thing is that now I can have decent flow (~39X) without creating a blizzard.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...bottom-med.jpg

The new tank is a frameless 20gal with external overflow box and 10mm :eek: glass.

- Chad

I run my 15 as BB tank, but I still prefer the looks of a sand bottom tank. :eek:

Yup, the asthetics was the main reason why I havent switched over sooner. I was suprised to find that I don't really mind the look of the glass bottom. I might let my gsp grow over it.

- Chad

You might come to regret that. :eek:

That's an interesting concept. It would be like a lawn. :biggrin:

Re: I can't belive it... I've gone barebottom!
 

Chad,

In my BB tanks, I siphon out the crud from the bottom during every weekly water change.

Quinn,
Yup, GSP is the weed of the animal kingdom. I figure though that all it will take is a razor blade to get it off the glass... not like removing it from rock.

Beverly,
Yup thats what I had done in my BB sump... I was shocked though that there was still so much trapped in the sandbed in the main. I will make sure I siphon out of the main now too.
By the way, what do you use for a cleanup crew in a BB? What kind of snail?
Thanks,

- Chad

Chad,

I have astreas and margaritas, mostly. In one tank, I have a few ceriths left over from when I had a sandbed in there, but I think ceriths do better with sandbeds.

Do you have many snails left Bev?? :frown:

Check with Kari on this board and [at this point in time I spent about an hour trying to find his name or at least a photo, no luck] the guy on RC who's tank was taken over. I think he had to tear it down to get rid of the GSPs. I think though possibly Kari's problem was the difficulty he has reaching the front of his tank. Best to see what he figures.

Still have a significant number of snails left...... so far :cry:

You might try Trochus. I find the trouble with Asreas is that when they fall over they can't right themselves and die. I have never had a Margarita that survived very long. But the Trochus I bought for the 15G BB tank so far work very well. However, if you can get Stomatella to show up you would really be happy. :biggrin:

Thanks for the tips.
Bob, I have two stomatella in my tank that I think were hitchikers on zoo frags I bought from you. I guess I just need to buy more zoos eh? :smile:
It seems like the lfs's only carry one type of snail and I would rather have the smaller size variety in a nano, where can a person buy stomatella?

Quinn,
I couldn't find the GSP thread you were talking about but just the threat of it is enough to make me cautious. Thx.

- Chad

The problem with Stomatellas is that they are hitchikers. Sometimes they do well in one tank, and when you try to move them they don't do well. That 33G tank the zoos came from is polluted with them. I have moved some to the 52, and I see the odd one, so maybe they can be transferred. :biggrin:

Nice looking tank Chad. I hope that when I get mine in order that it looks as good as yours. I'll have to come by and take a look at the set up when i get back from vacation.

Looking good Chad, and welcome to the BB club :razz: .

I've seen some BB tanks that have coralline covering the bottom, looks pretty nice to me, and it still allows easy siphoning. Since I've finally got coralline growing on my glass, I'm thinking about doing that.

-Richer

You know the more I look at that tank, the more I want to set up my 10 gallon, right now, as a bare bottom.

Chrisd,
You bet bud. Look forward to seeing you.

Richer,
For some reason, I havent really had any coraline growth in the 5 months that the tank has been set up. It would be awsome if I could get it to grow on the bottom. My calcium and alk levels are good. :question:

- Chad

Quinn,
Thanks man. I would fully recommend it. The tank is cleaner, my circulation is better. I have also noticed that I have hardly any diatom growth on the glass where I used to have to clean it every 3 days or so. The little damsel even seems happier than he did before.
For someone that never liked BB tanks before, I have done a complete 180!

- Chad

ps - I'd like to stop by and see your setup sometime. I pass through Lethbridge everytime we visit the in-laws in Stirling.

Well it's a nice looking nano. I would think that if high current was needed in the nano that you're better off BB.

(I still won't switch my tanks though .. :razz: .. )


I assure you they can. They are like any other livestock, as long as handled correctly, you can move them from tank to tank. The only caveat is, Stomatella can be predated upon, so, they may not do well if there is someone who's developed a taste for them. When I had cleaner shrimp, those little bugs decimated my Stomatella population. :confused: Silly shrimp with their little pokey probey claws. :biggrin:

I've no idea how to get it going neither. My tank is the same age as yours and for quite awhile, the coraline in my tank would bleach out faster than it would grow in my tank. Now I see spots popping up everywhere and its actually growing! :razz: . As far as I know, I haven't changed anything in my tank. Hopefully someone else can tell us what in the world is going on there.

-Richer

Delphinus,
The higher flow was definitely a benefit; however, I was really suprised at how much "junk" was trapped by my sandbed. The tank was only 4 months old and I fed VERY sparingly (only had one damsel that I fed a tiny bit every 3 days). The sand looked clean and white but once I emptied it out, the water inside the sand was green and reeked! That has to contribute to nitrates doesn't it???

- Chad

Richer,
I guess I just need to apply some of that magical ingrediant:

Patience.

Cheers,
- Chad

Ehhh ahhh ummm ... well this is the the rather pinnacle element of the whole debate isn't it. Unfortunately for the sandbed to process nitrates, it needs to have an anaerobic zone. And those are, well, putrid if you stir them up.

But without the anaerobic bateria to process the nitrates, then yes, that detritus can't help but add to the nitrates and phosphates.

For me, keeping my sandbed comes down to two things. 1) I like the look better. (Sorry.) 2) Not that I have any now, but there are some fish (and perhaps other interesting critters) who like a sandbed. When I had a fairy wrasse, he would sleep at night buried in the sand. Sometimes he would find a crevasse in the rock to sleep, but more often than not, it was the sand. .. Another example is a jawfish - also an interesting fish but requires a burrow in the sand to not feel stressed (a burrow in the rock might suffice, but it's not a "real" substitute for a burrow in the sand).

That said, some animals just make a nuisance of themselves if there's a sand bed to muck about in (Deb's trigger comes to mind).

So I guess it all comes down to circumstance! I haven't yet read any compelling evidence to convince me to throw away all my sand. The reasons for going BB seem reasonably sound, and it's that right for you then more power to you. But I still like my sand. :razz:

cheers

Tony,
Haha, I can respect that.
Sorry if I have the ferver of the recently converted :smile: .

Regards,
- Chad

Here's a shot of the tank with only the actinics on. It doesn't look as blue as this in real life but for some reason my camera white balance settings don't handle actinic too well.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/dat...ctinic-med.jpg


- Chad