So You Want To Go Barebottom But You Have Questions...

I am onto my third tank now and this will be my first tank with sand...a very shallow sand bed of extra fine aragamax. My other 2 tanks were barebottom tanks with starboard (more on starboard below).

I will give you some of my observations and opinions about barebottom tanks and would be happy to answer any questions.

First of all WHY go barebottom in the first place? Well, a lot of people looked at my tanks when I was setting them up and shook their heads in confusion. Why would I want to have this great live rock, fish and corals all living on top of a piece of plastic? Well, for many people their is the misconception that a barebottom tank = NO siphoning maintenance. Totally untrue. In fact, for the barebottom method to be successful you MUST siphon regularly to remove detritus.

So lets mention some benefits of a barebottom tank and then we can better answer why someone would want to have a barebottom tank.
1. Easy to keep clean. Absolutely TRUE. Keeping a barebottom tank clean, at least the floor of the tank, is very easy. Regular siphoning (2-3x/week) is all it takes. Nothing fancy...a turkey baster will work fine. You just need to keep detritus from sitting on the bottom of the tank...remember, there is no sand bed to break stuff down.
2. High flow. With a barebottom tank and no worry of blowing sand, you can jack up the flow to unprecedented numbers. In fact, one of my SPS tanks had 65x water turnover per hour and I didnt have to worry about any sand storms. This also helps push detritus to one side for easy siphoning.
3. Clean look. Many people, including me, dont like the look of a deep sand bed. I dont like that dirty sand 3" up on the front glass...not my kidn of style. A barebottom tank looks clean and draws your attention to the corals and fish.

SO, those are some basic benefits to a barebottom tank.

Now, what do you put on the bottom...is it REALLY barebottom?

2 ways you can go with this (probably more, but most people do one of these things).
1. Keep it real...just glass. Personally I dont like this idea. I am not crazy about nothing on the bottom only because it gives weird reflections that drive some of the fish nuts. Most importantly, its hard to see detritus.
2. Starboard...ok, so what the heck is starboard? Starboard is cutting board. Thats right...nothing fancy. Best prices I have found are at www.cuttingboardcompany.com. I would suggest the 1/2" white for the best price, but you can also get a colored board if you want to. I wouldnt stray from the 1/2", though. 1/4" inch has a tendency to bow with the weight of rocks and 1" is too heavy to work with.

After some time the bottom will get covered in corralline algae. The starboard enhances the purple, pink and green colors and really looks nice. The plastic also seems to attract the corraline that much more. So those people who say they use starboard because it gives light reflection thereby enhancing the amount of light in their tank either 1. clean their starboard very, very regularly or 2. dont know what they are talking about.

So...what are some DISadvantages to going barebottom. Well, there are a few.
1. No benefit of the denitrifying sand bed. Means you must SKIM MORE than others. I skim very aggressively and very wet to remove the most waste.
2. You cant keep sand dwelling animals. Some gobies, shrimp and certain snails will be pretty ticked off at you if you put them in a tank with no sand. Anemones too.
3. Snail poop is EVERYWHERE. I think that snails can poop out 4x their body weight in a day...or at least it seems like it. I went snail-less in my barebottom tanks. I got tired of siphoning their waste
4. Not a natural look. This is debatable...after the starboard gets covered with corraline most people couldnt tell if it was starboard or sand. It looked that nice.

So, some general rules for working with starboard.
1. Measure the inside dimensions of your tank and have the starboard cut 1/4" shorter on each side.
2. Gently sand the corners and edges, especially where the staboard may come in contact with the silicone seams.
3. You can choose to glue the starboard down if you want. I did not and never had trouble with detritus collecting underneath it, at least not in any significant amount.
4. A bandsaw is the easiest way to cut this stuff. It is more difficult to cut than plywood, for example.


Well, thats the down and dirty (or clean) of barebottom tanks.

I will be happy to answer any questions.

 

Well written! Thanks. I've debated the BB tank, but then again, I don't have a lot of SPS and BB really helps SPS because you can crank the flow like you mentioned.

Eric

 

Yeah I agree, great post.
So, I've thought of this from time to time as I seem to get diatoms on my sand a bit - admittedly I don't have nas. snails or anything grooming it which I should - but bb has been on my mind...

so what are your nitrates like without sand?

 

hmm...i would lke bare bottom but...i would mis being able to get the little sand critters

 

All params are well below where they need to be...ie ZERO.

You DO NOT need a deep sand bed to denitrify your tank. Heavy skimming and diligent water changes will do that, assuming you dont overstock and stick to a reasonable feeding schedule.

As far as sand critters...there are indeed snails that can work well in a BB tank, but they are not needed for their sand churning skills...ie nassarius.

All of the hermits and snails seem to do fine without sand. The burrowing gobies and burrowing shrimp are the only things you miss out on.

 

ya but...still, imo whats the point of a bb tank? its less work? is that really worth it to give of the true look of the ocean?

 

Hmm do you syphon that much NUHTTY??? I run BB and only really syphon the bottom maybe once ever 2 to 3 weeks. I thought I might add a few things to your pro and con list, if its ok.

In a BB system you deal with your problems in real time, as in waste/detritus get processed or used as time goes by. In a DSB tank you sink your Detritus/waste and rely on composting to deal with it. Not all of it but just the nitrogen based products.

In a BB system you keep detritus in suspension through the use of good flow, this allows the critter (corals) to have this available to them as a food source. In a dsb all detritus and waste goes to the bed and the bacteria that occupies it.

In a BB system you deal with Phosphates in real time, as in they are processed out through skimming and other filtration methods. In a DSB system you are adding sand that is completely saturated with P and once it goes anaerobic and begins to melt it leaches into your tank. According to Ron thats the concept, it facilitates the exportation of P.

In a BB system you reduce the long term effect of nutrient loading as you are removing the nutrients in real time. In a DSB you are gaining more denitrifing areas, but they only process nitrogen, the balance is sunk and builds up.

Anyway just some more thoughts. NUHTTY I have anenomes in my BB system and they seem to be happy (about 11 I believe)
http://www.mojoreef.info/gallery/Fgallery6-4.jpg[img]


mike

 

You guys are getting me interested. So did you do this on an existing tank? I am concerned about shocking out my fish/system.

Also, how are your nitrates now?

 

mojo - good points

I dont siphon nearly as much since removing the snails.

I had anemones in my BB as well. There are anemones which dont need a sand bed to burrow in so these types of anemones will probably do very well.

 

Yo! Throw a guy a bone!