Bare Bottom Tanks

[rickjames]

You will notice stuff end up on the bottom of your tank with just rock, I would think i would just be silt and small amounts of detritus produced from whatever is living in the rock.

I went BB and will never go back to a sand bed. I do my weekly water change and siphon the bottom of whatever detritus is there. Unless you are keeping sandbed-living fish such as shrimp gobies or something, there is no reason to keep a sand bed as long as you have live rock. Unless you like the sand bed look better... personally I enjoy the BB look better, plus I don't have to look at 3-4" of sand in the front of my tank.

[Dopey]

I was thinking of getting a catilina gobie for my tank after the cycle

[rickjames]

Catalina gobies are actually temperate water species, will not do well in a reef tank.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by Dopey

I was thinking of getting a catilina gobie for my tank after the cycle

Remember that Catalina gobies are from more temperate waters (California coast) and do best at temperatures around 60 degrees F. I think the highest they can tolerate is 74F but not for long. You'd have to pretty much plan your tank around them.

Christy

[Dopey]

Thanks

Does anyone have any suggestions on types of fish that would be suitable for my tank size 15L

[danny zubot]

This stood out in my mind...

The problem with the life in the sand bed is that acording to the good Dr. Ron (who started this sand bed craze) we can only support 10% of the number and viriaty of "bugs" that it takes to make a sand bed work properly.

What he didn't tell you that has been recently dicovered is that the 10% of those "bugs" account for about 85 to 90% of the denitrification process, all of which occures withing the first 3/4 inches of sand in an aquarium.

I'm not taking sides with the issue as I almost went bare bottom with my new tank. Instead I went with a 1 inch bed and utilize a diverse cleanup crew. I enjoy watching those little guys almost as much as the fish, thus I have placed more importance on a sandbed.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

What he didn't tell you that has been recently dicovered is that the 10% of those "bugs" account for about 85 to 90% of the denitrification process, all of which occures withing the first 3/4 inches of sand in an aquarium.

is this a new development that you need bugs for denitrification? the sand alone will denitrify with bacteria no need for pods, worms ect. and what was meant for a working sand bed is long term like 15 years ect.. if you have the right bugs ie. the little est one eats the bacteria that breakdown the nitrate, and a bigger one eats that and so on and so on until the fish are the last of the removal chain then theoretically a sand bed will be self sustaining and never plug up. this is what cannot happen in our tanks and it is why after anywhere from 1 to 5 years most sand beds start creating more problems than they solve. so there are no bugs needed for nitrification only a pours surface of the right depth and bacteria, hence this is why rock works just as good and is the original filter. but yes I agree bugs are fun to watch and I have just as many mysis, pods, worms as I did in the sand bed, is just that I am getting old and can't stay up that late to watch them anymore hehe

Steve

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

...after anywhere from 1 to 5 years most sand beds start creating more problems than they solve.

So, do you recommend replacing a sand bed at least once every 5 years?
(I don't think I would care for BB).

[EmilyB]

Actually, by the time you've changed one out after 4-5 years, you will not ever want to repeat the experience (ime )

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

10% of those "bugs" account for about 85 to 90% of the denitrification process, all of which occures withing the first 3/4 inches of sand in an aquarium.

So with my BB tank, how does one explain 0 ppm NO3? Sand CAN be home to bacteria, but inthe absence of sand, more than enough "bugs" exist on and in the rock to perform denitrification.