What's Your Bare Bottom Like?

[TRIX]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...008#post226008
Sry had too

[Scavenger]

One thing I did on my 48 when I went bare bottom was to paint the outside bottom. This really helped visually. There is no reflection and makes it look a bit more natural esp before you get bottom growth. The only thing I regret was doing it in black as I had a slight heat problem, but it looked great. Next time, I'm going to get a bit fancier. I paint landscapes as a hobby, so I may try and make the bottom look like rocks, sand and rubble. Another option would be to find some prefab wallpaper or shelf paper already designed to look like a seafloor, but I can't say I remember ever seeing one.

[danny zubot]

Here ya go Mark.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...128#post226128

If I had more time I would have liked to try a foam bottom. A friend of mine did a foam wall on the back of his tank that turned out very well. Painted it various colors of purple a green to simulate coraline growth. I think it would make a really cool bottom.

[Ruth]

Quite nice actually IMO- oh mean in my tanks. I have a 190g and a 100g that are both BB. On the 190 I have black starboard that is basically covered in coralline so you really don't see that much of it but it does stop the light from my sump/fuge from leaking through. On my 100g cube the stand is painted dark brown under the tank so I just left it as is (glass). It is still fairly new so no real build up of coralline.
I love BB tanks as they are so much easier to see and get the crud out. I like the look as well but a lot of people prefer the look of sand.

[Moogled]

I still can't find my camera, so here's an older shot.

It's been filling up nicely with spots of coralline here and there.

[andsoitgoes]

I thought a lot about BB tanks and I've got a fair few FW tanks that are like it and, to be honest, I really don't care for the look - I find it just looks... empty - I wanted to like it, but the sand is just so pretty and natural!

[EmilyB]

Mine look like Mikes. I don't really find much detritus that is "suck-a-upable". It's more like sand coming from the rocks. I imagine rock breakdown will create a sandbed in time.

[BCOrchidGuy]

I saw seahorse fanatics tank which is bare bottom and it looks great. I imagine it takes a long time though for all the coraline to get to the point where it looks like a bottom rather than all the bare glass. I was thinking about a bare bottom but was also hoping to get a pistol shrimp and goby, I wonder about putting a small barrier of sorts with a 2 inch sand bed for the goby/shrimp and then covering/disguising the sides with live rock rubble... Any thoughts as to whether this would be feasable or just cancel out the idea of the bare bottom.

Doug

[Der_Iron_Chef]

If you have adequate waterflow, I imagine the sand would get dispersed around in time. I'm sure the goby would help with the dispersion, too!! But it's a cool idea...maybe worth a try?