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Discussion in 'Sand' started by Matt Rogers, Jan 5, 2011.

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  1. bama

    bama Humpback Whale

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    what a great idea. I am toying with going bare bottom as I don't have any fish in the tank at the moment so it would be easy with just a few corals to keep them in another tank for a night. I should have gone bare from the start.
     
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  3. Dr. Reefenstein

    Dr. Reefenstein Fire Shrimp

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    Great idea.. If I could go back and do it over again I would consider this. Especially for us with vortech's.. Sand is a killer.....
     
  4. SnooknRedz

    SnooknRedz Vlamingii Tang

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    I thought the same thing. the glass and the board have to be straight as hell or else little by little some stuff has to build up, nothing that be too major but it would be there. i'd love to see a video if at all possible. :)
     
  5. kcbrad

    kcbrad Giant Squid

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    Cool idea Matt. Keep us posted!

    My LFS told me to go bare bottom when I started, but I didn't listen. Now I wish I had!
     
  6. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    You can see in the pics that the boards are very straight / flat. Since I emptied the tank and rinsed it, the boards on the glass seemed good to me. Some debris does build up on the outer edges but it has been easy to deal with. Silicone is a good idea and would have helped - but my mindset at the time was that I was unsure if this would work out and I wanted to be able to back-pedal easily, so glue was not on the radar.

    Thanks all. People can get pretty worked up over substrate for some reason - I was not sure how this would be received. :)

    matt
     
  7. steve wright

    steve wright Super Moderator

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    Well my wrasse would not be in favour of it
    but as an aid to maintenance and overall tank cleanliness
    my experience with bare bottom set ups, was positive

    I did not have the plastic board, but as its plastic, I imagine it will eventually be a purple colour and as coraline favours plastics, I imagine it will get that way much sooner, than it would on just a bare glass bottom

    Steve
     
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  9. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    Excuse me if I missed it but, did you have to make any alterations to the boards to make them fit the dimenions of the tank?

    Looks like a viable alternative for me as I am considering going bare bottom in the future. One thing that put me off was the appearence of the glass while the coralline was becoming established on the surface.
     
  10. Otty

    Otty Giant Squid

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    Looks like a great ideal Matt. Plus the board will look a lot better then just seeing the glass on the bottom. Hope it works out for you.
     
  11. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Thanks Otty. Me too. :)


    No I did not make any alterations. I just measured well and bought 3 pieces as shown in the photo below. The 2 smaller pieces fit between the overflow in the middle. Those pieces could have been a bit longer to reach the back of the tank. Perhaps another inch. But the big piece fits pretty snug, so overflow I think it turned out great.

    [​IMG]
     
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  12. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    hehehe nice pun lol