Barebottom Pics and ideas.

[M_Nano]

Saw a bare bottom nano reef at local fish shop and looked so good and clean and natural at the same time. Only inhabitant was a porcelain anemone crab very small and filled with beautiful corals. Any photos of bare bottom nanos?

[Five.five-six]

I’m a sand bottom guy but WWC uses starboard for their bare bottoms and it looks very nice.  

[Nocturnal]

1 hour ago, Five.five-six said:

I’m a sand bottom guy but WWC uses starboard for their bare bottoms and it looks very nice.  

That seems to be an interesting compromise between just glass bottom and sand. It would definitely be better for corals to attach to and crabs and such to navigate. I went bare for a while and did not consider my couple of hermits wouldn't be able to get around.

[Sailingeric]

2 hours ago, Five.five-six said:

I’m a sand bottom guy but WWC uses starboard for their bare bottoms and it looks very nice.  

I like of like the Starboard idea.  I am battling Cyano now I wonder if I replaced the sand with that if that would help.  

[NanoAaron]

i love my bare bottom!

 

oh... and my aquarium bare bottom too!

[A Little Blue]

Definitely not a sandman

 

 

[tanacharison]

Bare bottom looks good when black! Corals pop way more.. Eventually I'll cover it with encrusting corals.

 

[A Little Blue]

5 minutes ago, tanacharison said:

Bare bottom looks good when black! Corals pop way more.. Eventually I'll cover it with encrusting corals.

 

Do you have suggestions for low light encrusting corals? 

[tanacharison]

Favias, Leptoseris, Stylocoenialla and some chalice and monti can adjust to lower light. Most encrusting LPS are fine on low-moderate light. I feel like flow is tricky because you need to keep the bottom clean but the corals happy.  Placement is key.

[A Little Blue]

15 minutes ago, tanacharison said:

Favias, Leptoseris, Stylocoenialla and some chalice and monti can adjust to lower light. Most encrusting LPS are fine on low-moderate light. I feel like flow is tricky because you need to keep the bottom clean but the corals happy.  Placement is key.

Thanks. I do have quite a flow on the bottom due to return flares hitting the front glass and then rushes downward.

There is also MP10 mounted at the bottom back to help with detritus. My entire rockwork touches the bottom at 6, cone like points (you can’t tell from the pic but it almost looks like floating above the bottom glass panel) so there is no detritus there whatsoever. 

I’m actually interested in encrusting Montis and Chalices if any can thrive in low light & medium/high flow??? 

[Lugmos12]

I'm in the process of going from sand to bare bottom

[Clown79]

I like bare bottom. Looks very clean.

[Five.five-six]

14 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

 

I’m actually interested in encrusting Montis and Chalices if any can thrive in low light & medium/high flow??? 

There are a lot that will do well once they get acclimated.  Takes a month or 3. 

[A Little Blue]

2 minutes ago, Five.five-six said:

There are a lot that will do well once they get acclimated.  Takes a month or 3. 

Thanks. Good to know that there are Montis that can tolerate low light conditions. I like them but they are a little too invasive to let them take over rocks with LPS/Acros. Few years ago I had this one out of control Monti that grew kind of slow and then one day, it just took off and consumed half of my scape within  a year.