Haven't had a tank in a while, is bare bottom still a thing?

[TheKingInYellow]

Have a tank in the works and was planning to go bare bottom but techniques and opinions change so rapidly in this hobby that I'm not sure if it's still viable.

 

The plan was to have lots of flow, 30 - 40 times per hour and heavy skimming with carbon and phosphate remover in reactors, ABS or starboard on the bottom to protect the glass.

 

Anything else I should be planning on?

[Tamberav]

Bare bottom is fine but phosphate removers are now out of style and most people try to avoid them. Skimming may or may not be okay, sometimes turn mine off. Watch nutrients, Nitrate and phosphate are in style. Yes, they are in style for SPS too. 

 

Watch out for dino, it's fairly common occurrence these days. Don't let your nitrate or po4 hit 0. 

 

3 hours ago, TheKingInYellow said:

Have a tank in the works and was planning to go bare bottom but techniques and opinions change so rapidly in this hobby that I'm not sure if it's still viable.

 

The plan was to have lots of flow, 30 - 40 times per hour and heavy skimming with carbon and phosphate remover in reactors, ABS or starboard on the bottom to protect the glass.

 

Anything else I should be planning on?

 

[Clown79]

Filter floss and carbon are the go to methods for filtration while using phos reducers is more on as need basis.

 

Ultra low and no nutrients is not popular anymore since it leads to problems.

 

Bare bottom is still popular with the use of starboard.

 

Skimmers on nano's isn't necessary but in some systems it is

[Jrill]

Folks do bare bottom. Looks ugly imo. 

[TheKingInYellow]

Wait we want nitrates and phosphate now?  Crazy.

 

I still like the BB look, and I already have some black starboard.

[Ratvan]

Wish i'd gone BB

[Clown79]

38 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Wish i'd gone BB

Me too

[TheKingInYellow]

Still a controversial option I see.

 

Only issue is that I love wrasses, and I know they need a sandbed 😕

[seabass]

1 hour ago, TheKingInYellow said:

Still a controversial option I see.

I don't think I'll ever get used to the look of a bare bottom reef tank.  Although, there is nothing wrong with them.  It's not so much controversial as preferential.

[TheKingInYellow]

Yeah I get that.  I don't like a reflective or white bottom myself, which is why I got the black starboard.  I'm considering 1/8th inch textured ABS now though and planting a zoa garden or encrusting monti garden on the base of my tank.

[Tamberav]

I love my BB SPS as it's all coralline now and causes me no grief. It doesn't work well in low flow imo...too much stuff collects if you can't blast the bottom.

[TheKingInYellow]

Yeah if I stick with my 18" cube I'm running an MP10 on it plus I'll run the AIO return through a VCA flow randomizer.  If I do move up the 36" as planned I'll add another MP10 or an MP40.

[ajkochev]

I painted the underside(outside) of my tank with this.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-12-oz-MultiColor-Textured-Caribbean-Sand-Protective-Spray-Paint-239121/100674049

 

In case I ever want to go bare bottom or the sand get blew around to much.

[TheKingInYellow]

Isn't the ABS/HDPE there to protect the glass from rocks also?

[jservedio]

15 hours ago, TheKingInYellow said:

30 - 40 times per hour

If high flow is a worry, I run 75-100x with a 1/4" SSB in my 20g and it doesn't get blown around too much with a reasonable size sand. One corner the glass peeks through maybe once every 2 weeks and takes 30 seconds to cover back up. If you like the look of a BB, go for it. If you prefer sand, go for it - it'll work either way, but the flow isn't going to kill a sandbed.

[Ratvan]

13 minutes ago, TheKingInYellow said:

Isn't the ABS/HDPE there to protect the glass from rocks also?

Supposedly

[Tamberav]

30 minutes ago, TheKingInYellow said:

Isn't the ABS/HDPE there to protect the glass from rocks also?

Unless your tank is deep and a rock could fall far, Idk why it needs protecting. 

[redcomet1489]

Just use like 1-2 inches of coarse substrate (not sugar fine) so you can get the look of sand but also be able to use high flow.

[Tamberav]

People have different definitions of high flow because mine will blow...frags...and snails to the other side of not stuck down 😄 I want another powerhead too.

 

As much flow as possible unless it's tearing flesh off SPS is a good amount 😋

[mcarroll]

I do bare bottom.  5+ years so far.  I don't know where the fad for "starboard" came from...don't even know what it is.  I don't know if it's cool or useful in some way, but it's definitely not a requirement.  :-)  

 

Aragonite has a hardness rating of 3.5-4.   Glass has a rating of 6.5.  The worst thing aragonite is going to do to glass is scratch it...and that is going to be rare-ish.  (Rocks normally don't move unless you move them.  A rock fall in a typical hobby tank shouldn't be any cause for concern, but should be prevented by making a stable stack of rocks.  Easy to do if you're paying attention during stacking.  😉

[seabass]

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I don't know where the fad for "starboard" came from.

It's been used for almost as long as bare bottomed reefs have been popular.  I feel that it was an attempt to provide the appearance of white sand, while still maintaining the cleaning properties of a bare bottom tank.  I believe that impact and scratch protection were considered more of a side bonus.

[TheKingInYellow]

I was going with black anyhow, plus the painted black background.  I'm avant garde that way.

 

It sounds like textured ABS is better now anyhow if you want encrusting corals or a zoa garden in the bottom, which I do.

[ef4life]

 I’ve thought of using the xport bio plates as like a pseudo bare bottom. Not sure how it would work long term though.

[Tamberav]

Do you scrape it free of coralline? Otherwise it's all probably the same in the end with the starboard looking better for the first year or two.

 

2 hours ago, TheKingInYellow said:

I was going with black anyhow, plus the painted black background.  I'm avant garde that way.

 

It sounds like textured ABS is better now anyhow if you want encrusting corals or a zoa garden in the bottom, which I do.

 

[TheKingInYellow]

Just looked them up, they are HUGE?!

1 minute ago, Tamberav said:

Do you scrape it free of coralline? Otherwise it's all probably the same in the end with the starboard looking better for the first year or two.

 

 

I won't scrape the bottom.  I do want encusting corals on it, and the texture is what's supposed to help that according to some things I've read.  Might be garbage, who knows.