What's Your Bare Bottom Like?
 

Heh. I know what you're thinking.

But really...I was wondering for those who have bare bottom tanks, what does the bottom actually look like? Is it covered in coralline or greenish algae, or what?

Just curious--thanks in advance!

Drew, I'll take a picture of my BB tank and post it tomorrow.

The difference is kinda subtle if you paint it white. You get patches of coralline here and there.

Bonus: More light is reflected due to white bottom.

That would be excellent--thanks!

put a mirror on the bottom and really freak out your fish

do most people leave the bottom bare and stack the rock on top of the glass? or do you put something like starboard on the bottom to protect the glass???

Have BB with rock directly on glass.

Mostly coralline covered except for the corners and areas under the rock.

Not to get into the negatives of sand beds (myths or facts) but I personally still believe a maintanied SB looks the best (plus can do that shrimp/goby thing).

reply
 

I've only had my tank as a BB for about 3 weeks now, and its got a green algae covering. The tank is just going through the usual diatom cycle.

I have my pistol and YWG pair in the tank too. So far they are fine, both eating well. I've had some residual sand and detritus settle on the bottom for the goby and conch etc to sift through. I don't think the pistol cares if there is no sand, as long as it has a few small pieces of rubble to play with.:biggrin:

Excellent. To me, having seen in tanks and the wild, think the pairing is one of the neatest things. Not to hijack here, perhaps you could start another thread with pictures and updates, but do you think a pair could be added to a existing BB?

When deciding to go BB, I looked at tanks on RC that had starboard on them. I suspected detritus would get trapped under the starboard which would defeat the purpose of the BB. So I have my rock on the glass. Have reaquascaped several times since going BB almost 2 years ago and have had no problems with rock on glass.

To reduce algae problems in a new BB tank, cure your LR in something other than the display tank. Make sure you have a heater and lots of water flow in the curing container. Clean the rock of all dead and dying matter from time to time and siphon out the dead stuff every week or so. Once the LR has cured, swish it well in the curing container to remove as much detritus as possible before placing it in your display tank. You're good to go and without all the nitrate and phosphate build up that you left behind in the curing container :)