re going bare bottom

[ECFENCING]

Hey everyone. Biting the bullet and going bare bottom. I know this sounds simple but what's the best way to do it to minimize the stress to the inhabitants?

This is what I would do:

(1) Drain aquarium and place fish, live rock softies in 2 35 gallon tubs-one with rock and softies and the other with the fish and some live rock, powerheads and heaters in both tubs

(2) get rid of live sand

(3) place in marineboard, caulk around edges

(4) wait for caulking to cure,

(5) place back water, fish, live rock and softies.

(6) Enjoy not having to look at my sanbed anymore

 

[ShaunW]

I would not bother with the caulking.

 

[herman]

No caulk. If anything you can use silicone geII window and door. But then again you dont have to really do that cause your rocks will be more than heavy to hold down the board. It you did not have the inhabitants waiting then yes.

Nice Choice!! BB is good

 

[ECFENCING]

thx. yeah I was debating on the silicone issue. Don't want any detritus under the marine board.

Also would it be a good idea to elevate the rocks off of the bottom? Put them on egg crates elevated with pvc?

 

[herman]

If you are going to be using silicone make sure its the above mentioned brand or one specifically for aquariums. Observe the curing times and dont go by the minimum.

You can place the rocks directly on the board. Try it with minimum contact points so its easy to "sweep" with a powerhead. I would not go with eggcrate - ugly and can be a crap trap.

You can make a pvc reef structure to raise the back and cover the front with LR. This makes for good hidingplaces for fish

 

[jhale]

if the board is flat on the glass don't worry about the silicon.

mine is a 1/2" above the glass due to the bracing around the perimeter of the tank.

stuff get's into the cracks but it's not that much. you can always suck it out.

 

[ECFENCING]

Thanks everyone.

 

[MPISCIOTTI]

where do you buy marine board. im thinking about getting rid of my sand.. since i swaped all of my old rocks for brand new cured live rock last week.. with a lfs..

 

[Hitsnorth]

Hey since we are all going bare bottom lets do a group buy on the marine board.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

hehehehe. barebottom takin over manhattanreefs.com by storm. lolz

 

[Quang]

sillly question but why do you need to use the marine board? I thought it was just supposed to be "bare" bottom....lol

 

[Tonyscoots84]

one thing that i no it does is protect the glass from the rock. and instead of having a see through bottom you could have a bottom almost the same color as sand or black.

 

[Dace]

hehehehe. barebottom takin over manhattanreefs.com by storm. lolz

Kool. Glad i already went there.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

hehe lolz

 

[gil716]

MPISCIOTTI,
Here are a couple of places that I came across. I ended up buying the marinaboard from the cuttingboardfactory because they claim that it is UV resistant unlike the regular cutting board material. It's a little more expensive, but worth the peace of mind. You can actually purchase marina or star board at local boating stores as well.

http://thecuttingboardfactory.com/M...Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TCBF&Category_Code=4MB
http://www.cuttingboardcompany.com/

They also do custom sizes. I didn't realize that till after I ordered.

 

[ECFENCING]

gil: Thanks for the post. I am going to get it from cuttingboardfactory-black 1/2"