Chris' 40B

[gena]

Have you ever ran a BB- it's killing me- I want someone to say it s the only way to go - or I would never go sand again- having an issue committing to it for a future build

I have. And it's a pain to keep clean. You really have to vacuum it daily or it looks messy....IMO. Unless I just had really messy fish and inverts in my BB tank .

[Sk8n Reefer]

I have. And it's a pain to keep clean. You really have to vacuum it daily or it looks messy....IMO. Unless I just had really messy fish and inverts in my BB tank .

 

Hmmmm........your not helping me at all- lol- what about having the bottom water flow heavy enough to keep things suspended- but I hear ya- I imagine it would still gather at some point and then it becomes an eye sore- I wouldn't want to have to vacuum every few days- didn't think about that

[gena]

Hmmmm........your not helping me at all- lol- what about having the bottom water flow heavy enough to keep things suspended- but I hear ya- I imagine it would still gather at some point and then it becomes an eye sore- I wouldn't want to have to vacuum every few days- didn't think about that

Well, that's a good point. The flow in my macro tank (that was BB) wasn't very strong. Go for it .

[Sk8n Reefer]

Well, that's a good point. The flow in my macro tank (that was BB) wasn't very strong. Go for it .

There ya go- that's what I am looking for- hahaha- maybe I should start a thread asking to see everyone's BB- afraid what that might get me?

[gena]

There ya go- that's what I am looking for- hahaha- maybe I should start a thread asking to see everyone's BB- afraid what that might get me

Well you know they will have cleaned it up before posting a photo . Mine got pretty gross. The nass snails would bury themselves (as much as they could) in the sludge since they didn't have sand .

[Sk8n Reefer]

Well you know they will have cleaned it up before posting a photo . Mine got pretty gross. The nass snails would bury themselves (as much as they could) in the sludge since they didn't have sand .

....ha I would think it would limit your cuc for sure- I don't know- I like the concept but still skeptical- how long did u run it

[Chris!]

I still prefer sand . Is the use of starboard something that's been done before or is it a Lawnman innovation?

 

Yeah if nothing else its a bit more natural looking as well. Nope Starboard has been around and used for quite some time now, definitely nothing new

 

Funny- one project leads to another-

 

Definitely becoming a trend with this house and everything I've done so far. I think the front door swap has been the only thing that didn't end up as more work then originally planned so far lol

 

that sucks about your knee- I tore my meniscus about 8yrs. ago- never had surgery- took about 6 months to really feel better-I can still feel it when I push laterally- but knees are wasted from slamming so much from skating .

 

Yeah I have a cyst caused from a fluid leak as well and am wondering if thats what is causing the majority of the pain.... or that it keeps giving out (folding opposite its "normal" position/fold ) and screwing something up but its annoying. Mine are jacked from basketball, manual labor, and poor lifting technique when I was younger. The sever degeneration of the knee probably doesn't help.... bad legs are pretty much hereditary on my dads side LOL

 

Man-BB - damn it- wish you would of pulled the trigger- would of made me probably go for it for the next build. I am seriously considering it but I struggle with all the small life forms not being able to adapt- after watching my hermit crabs struggle for hrs. To get anywhere in my quarantine tank when I 1st got my clowns. I put them in there to eat some flake that never got eaten and they struggled horribly- finally just took them out. It's gotta be better for the overall system though not to have accumulating areas under the rock- I don't know - seems pretty unnatural though for fish and other life forms.

 

Its definitely worth considering IMO, the look is beautiful and you can run a ton of flow without disturbing the sand... which is always nice in an SPS dominate tank But I hear ya on the unnatural look, although you could grow out z/ps across the bottom which would eventually fill in and give color and traction to the hermits (although the polyps would be pissed off alot)

 

Someone on here had a thread where they painted the underside of the tank with a texture paint and it actually looked pretty cool- gave the appearance of sand.

 

 

I've seen that as well. Turned out really good IMO and if you don't have a center brace is a pretty cool cheap alternative for sure! I've done it in the past (and still put sand over top of it) so when my mp40 blew sand around I didn't have any bare looking spots. I had a centerbrace or I probably wouldn't have added sand to that tank at all...

 

So I am in New Orleans for 3 days lecturing for work- the wife is a trooper - we FaceTime and she sets the camera up and does the testing and doser while I watch. Dosing has been pretty regular now so I only need her to test KH maybe once while I am gone pretty cool though!

 

Thats awesome man! Better pick her up somethin nice on the way home she definitely deserves it

 

There ya go- that's what I am looking for- hahaha- maybe I should start a thread asking to see everyone's BB- afraid what that might get me

 

DO IT!!! Like Gena said, probably won't see alot of the "truth" but you will see alot of beautiful tanks with it I'm sure. Like I said, if it wasn't for the Eurobrace around the bottom (which is done in smoked glass), I probably would have did it atleast to try for a while... worst case you can add sand later, although I wouldn't want to wait a super long time and have it packed with coral and try to add it lol

[NorthGaHillbilly]

My bb gets gross, then I clean it and it's not gross. Sand gets gross, and stays gross. Pick your poison

 

 

I'm sure a lot of the detritus isn't a big deal and I'm not saying sand is such a bad thing. But it's definitely intereating to see how much gunk builds up

[HM3105]

There were some people using faux sand beds on their BB. If you google it. When I did my BB with HDPE I looked unto super gluing sand to it but I never tried it. I wasn't sure if the glue would hold to the plastic.

 

Anyway, the tank will look awesome either way you go, just depends what level of awesome you want.

[hey]

I feel like I have a healthy mix of bb and sand by only having like a half inch layer of sand. I stir it up almost daily with a long coral feeding turkey baster and create epic poop storms in my water column. poop goes to my oversized skimmer and gets removed pretty well. Also a benefit of having a ton of vermetid snails is they eat the stuff right out of the water column when you stir it up. Spiderwebby things everywhere.

[gena]

....ha I would think it would limit your cuc for sure- I don't know- I like the concept but still skeptical- how long did u run it

That tank wasn't set up that long, maybe 6 months? I was so glad to take it down because of the mess .

I feel like I have a healthy mix of bb and sand by only having like a half inch layer of sand. I stir it up almost daily with a long coral feeding turkey baster and create epic poop storms in my water column. poop goes to my oversized skimmer and gets removed pretty well. Also a benefit of having a ton of vermetid snails is they eat the stuff right out of the water column when you stir it up. Spiderwebby things everywhere.

Maybe that's what I have...vermetid snails. They are all over the sandbed. I think they keep it clean .

[Chris!]

My bb gets gross, then I clean it and it's not gross. Sand gets gross, and stays gross. Pick your poison

 

I tend to go with more sand dwellers then most, so maybe thats why I've never had a huge problem with my sand becoming overly dirty.... even my 180 that had the same sand untouched by me for about 3 yrs wasn't horribly nasty when I broke it down. Or, maybe its the high level of flow I have always maintained that helps keep things suspended and usable by something or removable by the skimmer better.

 

There were some people using faux sand beds on their BB. If you google it. When I did my BB with HDPE I looked unto super gluing sand to it but I never tried it. I wasn't sure if the glue would hold to the plastic.

 

Anyway, the tank will look awesome either way you go, just depends what level of awesome you want.

 

Yeah I have seen the glued "sandbeds" before, but it would leave me with the same problem a true BB would with no sand for my sand dwelling creatures. The snails I'm not so concerned with, but my wrasse selections will definitely appreciate the sand. The fake sandbed may actually create even more of a problem then BB could as it would appear like there is sand and they could try to dive into it and damage their mouths....

 

I feel like I have a healthy mix of bb and sand by only having like a half inch layer of sand. I stir it up almost daily with a long coral feeding turkey baster and create epic poop storms in my water column. poop goes to my oversized skimmer and gets removed pretty well. Also a benefit of having a ton of vermetid snails is they eat the stuff right out of the water column when you stir it up. Spiderwebby things everywhere.

 

Same here, I run about an inch typically, although I don't ever touch the sand bed. I've always relied on a few snails and a few sand dwelling wrasses to do my mixing. Its always worked out pretty well in the past.... I will definitely have a oversized skimmer too tho

 

Although I am trying to keep the vermetids out, they irritate SPS IMO.

[kguske2]

Vermetid snails annoy me just by their webs. Even if they're beneficial they make everything look nasty

[gena]

 

I tend to go with more sand dwellers then most, so maybe thats why I've never had a huge problem with my sand becoming overly dirty.... even my 180 that had the same sand untouched by me for about 3 yrs wasn't horribly nasty when I broke it down. Or, maybe its the high level of flow I have always maintained that helps keep things suspended and usable by something or removable by the skimmer better.

 

 

Yeah I have seen the glued "sandbeds" before, but it would leave me with the same problem a true BB would with no sand for my sand dwelling creatures. The snails I'm not so concerned with, but my wrasse selections will definitely appreciate the sand. The fake sandbed may actually create even more of a problem then BB could as it would appear like there is sand and they could try to dive into it and damage their mouths....

 

 

Same here, I run about an inch typically, although I don't ever touch the sand bed. I've always relied on a few snails and a few sand dwelling wrasses to do my mixing. Its always worked out pretty well in the past.... I will definitely have a oversized skimmer too tho

 

Although I am trying to keep the vermetids out, they irritate SPS IMO.

I occasionally vacuum the sand, but not regularly. It's spionid worms that I have. Not as ugly as the vermetid webs.

[Chris!]

I occasionally vacuum the sand, but not regularly. It's spionid worms that I have. Not as ugly as the vermetid webs.

 

I've always had little "spaghetti worms", and vermetid.... which is why I've decided to just take my time, do a old school cycle and start all dry! Between that, dipping like a mad man, QT, inspection and all my other crazy processes I should be able to keep the tank free of all those little pest that irritate me lol

[Chris!]

Been wanting to do a skimmer size comparison pic for a while, but haven't had a chance to fully breaking down my ones that are in use to clean and do it so how bout a skimmer cup comparison instead....

 

 

On the left is the beastly Bubble Magus BM 220-A (rated for 260-400g),Middle Bubble Magus BM 180-A (rated for 130-210 then the toy SCA 302 (rated for... 180g).... LMAO

 

 

The 220A is what will be going on the Miracles tank. The 180A did a great job on my 70g and could have easily handled more. The sca couldn't hold its own on my 40B.

[gena]

Love the skimmer comparison!

 

I've always had little "spaghetti worms", and vermetid.... which is why I've decided to just take my time, do a old school cycle and start all dry! Between that, dipping like a mad man, QT, inspection and all my other crazy processes I should be able to keep the tank free of all those little pest that irritate me lol

It would be nice to have a quarantine tank for corals and fish, for sure .

[Chris!]

Love the skimmer comparison!

 

Thanks, the skimmer body of the sca302 could probably fit in the cup for the BM220-A lol

 

It would be nice to have a quarantine tank for corals and fish, for sure .

 

Yeah its definitely an important thing for me. Obviously not everyone has the room for one... or more... but if you do, definitely good to have!

[gena]

 

Thanks, the skimmer body of the sca302 could probably fit in the cup for the BM220-A lol

 

 

Yeah its definitely an important thing for me. Obviously not everyone has the room for one... or more... but if you do, definitely good to have!

I'm really happy with my skimmer. It's a Reef Octopus. I forget which model #. It does a great job. I have nothing to compare it to though .

[Chris!]

I'm really happy with my skimmer. It's a Reef Octopus. I forget which model #. It does a great job. I have nothing to compare it to though .

 

Reef Octopus generally are a pretty decent product. Not all are created equal the super reef octos are better but even their "worst" is way better then nothing atleast... not everyone has a feeding addiction like me tho either LOL

[Polarcollision]

There ya go- that's what I am looking for- hahaha- maybe I should start a thread asking to see everyone's BB- afraid what that might get me

 

My very first reef was set up by a LFS as a bare bottom. They put a spray bar at the base, along the back wall to move detritus. Sounds like a good idea, right? all it actually did was push it under the rockwork where I couldn't vacuum it out. By the time a week rolled by for water changes, it looked like shallow sand bed of detritus. Ewwww! LOL

[jedimasterben]

My very first reef was set up by a LFS as a bare bottom. They put a spray bar at the base, along the back wall to move detritus. Sounds like a good idea, right? all it actually did was push it under the rockwork where I couldn't vacuum it out. By the time a week rolled by for water changes, it looked like shallow sand bed of detritus. Ewwww! LOL

Must not have been a lot of flow. The issue with spray bars is that they usually reduce velocity significantly.

[Jstn]

I've always had little "spaghetti worms", and vermetid.... which is why I've decided to just take my time, do a old school cycle and start all dry! Between that, dipping like a mad man, QT, inspection and all my other crazy processes I should be able to keep the tank free of all those little pest that irritate me lol

 

I am the same way, I wont reuse any of my live rock, do a fresh reboot. I am paranoid I still have my acan eating worms..

[Polarcollision]

That's pretty sweet! I've never seen one of those, may have to pick one up.

 

Did you pick one up? I hope they've gotten better. We bought one a few years ago for the office hoping to cut down on color proof prints, but the monitor profile it created actually threw colors off more than the standard apple profile. We just continued to color match by CMYK numbers.

 

Must not have been a lot of flow. The issue with spray bars is that they usually reduce velocity significantly.

 

It definitely cut down the flow. Made me question how a spray bar could get enough power to even lift detritus up into the water column. Or for that matter, how they could overpower the rest of the flow to push detritus out from under the rockwork without an airplane engine powering it.

[Sk8n Reefer]

 

My very first reef was set up by a LFS as a bare bottom. They put a spray bar at the base, along the back wall to move detritus. Sounds like a good idea, right? all it actually did was push it under the rockwork where I couldn't vacuum it out. By the time a week rolled by for water changes, it looked like shallow sand bed of detritus. Ewwww! LOL

Thx for the input- since I probably will be strictly SPS- I would ramp up the flow along the bottom for sure if I decide to BB. Still struggling with the decision- but I have plenty of time before my next build?