idea for barebottom tanks

[Bob I]

I have a bunch of plugs that Sleeman made for me out of that concrete rock (Aquacrete ). Among them are some large pieces. They are about 1/2 inch thick. I had the brilliant idea (blow own horn) that they might be nice as a bottom material for BB tanks. So I stuck on some of my faster growing zoos, and placed them in my 15G nano. I think once they grow a bit they will look real nice. The rock will also grow Coraline algae in time. Here are a couple of pictures. I will do some more when the zoos grow a bit, and the algae forms.

[StirCrazy]

Hey Bob, I was thinking along the same lines but I was going to pour a bottom in the tank with a random multi high look. problem is when my corals started dieing in the temp tank I set up I didn't have time to do it as I was going to cure the cement in place. To do this I was going to get a thin sheet of Styrofoam to cover the whole bottom then chunks of different thickness Styrofoam to make a "hilled" bottom. and then I was going to float the top to smooth it and finally spread a very thin layer of sand over it to be embedded to the cement so it looked like sand.

Steve

[Beverly]

I like the function of our BB tanks the way they are. Makes for easier siphoning of crud from the bottom during water changes.

[danny zubot]

A mix of zoanthids and GSP would look really cool, but would it still be considered a bare bottom tank?

[Bob I]

No it is not bare bottom, but is sandfree. This tank has been running for months as is evidenced by the coraline on the bottom. I am not anal about crud. There is a small powerhead on the bottom that keeps crud in suspension so that the Fluval can get it.

[Beverly]

Well, I'm really freaking anal about removing crud from my BB tank because that's the whole idea about going BB. Without the critters and extra bacteria that lives in the sandbed, accumulating crud is a recipe for all kinds of nuisance algae problems somewhere down the road. If our hands weren't so wet during WCs in our three tanks, I'd take pics of the crud we siphon out as well as the crud that accumulates in our mechanical filters. It ain't pretty

[Bob I]

Without opening a can of worms, (or crud) , I have become firmly convinced that crud is a necesary part of a well balanced tank. Corals live off the stuff (marine snow). I found that zoanthids did not do at all well in a bb tank without fish (no crud)

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Bob_I

Without opening a can of worms, (or crud) , I have become firmly convinced that crud is a (necessary) <-- I fixed your spelling there Bob part of a well balanced tank. Corals live off the stuff (marine snow). I found that zoanthids did not do at all well in a bb tank without fish (no crud)

I agree Bob, but with one modification, only if you can keep it in suspension so it can be utilized by the corals and the excess removed by the skimmer. by setting up your water flow correctly you can feed a lot heavier with out an accumulation of junk under your rocks.

Steve

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by Bob_I

Without opening a can of worms, (or crud) , I have become firmly convinced that crud is a necesary part of a well balanced tank.

You may be right, boB. On Saturdays, we de-crud our tanks by siphoning out the crud on the bottom of the tank and cleaning the foams in our mechanical filters. On Sunday, the crudding begins again for the rest of the week. On Friday, before the water change, I clean the glass, then turkey baste all the rock to de-crud it as much as possible. The tank is cloudy for an hour or so. Then back to the old grind on Saturday.

I can't imagine not de-crudding the tank weekly with the amount of crud we get. Our tanks are not over populated by any stretch of the imagination, either, so I don't know where the stuff is coming from. I'm guessing it's hitchhiker crabs eating algae that make much of the crud we siphon out.