Going barebottom, tips/tricks/advice (clothes not mandatory, ;) )
- Thread starter ctxmonitor
- Start date
- Location
- 11756
You guys are making me wanna go BB toooooo =\
I would try and get as much flow across the starboard as possible. As Jonathan said, try and do as few cuts as possible. But as long as you get lots of flow dendritis shouldn't settle.Daceman89 said:
I am going to put two maxijet 1200 at the bottom left and right of my tank, pointing outward. They should not allow anything to settle on the starboard. Then I will have my two 6060 tunze streams positioned higher in the tank.
I set up my 30 gallon BB reef this way. In it I have SPS, zoanthids and an anemone with 2 percula clownfish. It's really simple, one powerhead (maxijet 1200) on the bottom of the tank (no starboard) blowing all debris to one section of the tank, then two maxijets on each side higher up (top of the tank). A hang on the back berlin skimmer (rated for a 100 gallon tank, it's a piece of $hit I know but it seems to be doing good on such a small tank) with the intake pump located to catch the debris that the bottom pump is sending its way. That's it for flow.
i really do not want to lose my coraline and zoo on the glass so i prefer doing it with the water in it, but i figure if i drain it as close as i can to the sand bed i could take all the sand out and the water left then i can spray with hose and redrain it to make as clean as possible before putting everything back in but then i will lose my coraline. is there anyway i can spray the glass ever so often so i would not lose colraline as i'm doing the install. also can i get some advice on how i should build the eggcrate stand so all main rocks can be at least 1/2 to an inch of the bottom so i can blow up detritus. I will have two returns from iwalki 70 in basement which will have penductors facing straight down to glass on corners rear corners of tank, two 6100 tunze blowing accross from top of each corner of tank 1 6000 blowing on bottom of tank from left to right and i have a 3/4 inch seaswirl that will be in the middle blowing from side to side across the top. what pump can i buy that i can use sea swirl as a closed loop that will be quiet. if not quiet pump, i don't want. Also how many gph should the pump be.jhale said:
Last edited:
- Location
- Stamford CT
ctxmonitor
Senior Member
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
Show off!! LOL..
So what happen to the litter box that cause it to change
So what happen to the litter box that cause it to change
Kedd said:
- Location
- Stamford CT
I moved to a new house, and got a bigger tank.
Kedd
Kedd
Went BB today in the 120 that's been up for 8 years with a sandbed, and am completely exhausted. WOW, what alot of work. I'll document my travels at a later time, since I desperately need a drink to relax. I stink of dirt/sand/corals/and crap! :lol:
Please let me know how you went about it. in detail. also how are you levels. do you think your tank may cycle. Did you glue the starboard down, and did you glue around the glass. how many pieces did you have to cut the board into to get in tank. do you have any cross bracing. can you take some pics. did you take pics of the process. are you getting tired of my questionsolbby said:
lol. cause i need to know, my starboard will be in on thursday so i will be doing my 180 on sunday. had to cut into three pieces to fit in tank then will have to cut out over flo.
you know ked we have two different types of sand and that what makes it hard for me to up my flows. but thanks for your comment. by the way you frags are doing great. hope to get my setup as nice as yours someday, Only it will be barebottom.. OH by the way. i think i forgot to tell you about the frag of the big coral you have on the mid right top of your tank that browned out a bit but was coming back with the color. maybe someday we'll hook up if you still selling it.Kedd said:
- Location
- Stamford CT
I was just kidding around, i'm sure bare bottom has it's good points, but I've never tried it.
I have had no problems with a DSB at all, and as for a skimmer I use a PM bullet XL with a Iwaki 70 RLT.
I have seen problems with tanks that use a VERY VERY fine grade of sand, but mine is more course, and allows me to keep the flow heavy.
Kedd
I have had no problems with a DSB at all, and as for a skimmer I use a PM bullet XL with a Iwaki 70 RLT.
I have seen problems with tanks that use a VERY VERY fine grade of sand, but mine is more course, and allows me to keep the flow heavy.
Kedd
word of advice [for solbby]
I forgot to mention one thing, and this is directed more at Shaun than anyone else. But I'm putting it here instead of a pm since it's BB related.
One important thing to remember is that with no sand on the bottom and the proper amount of flow all the detritus will end up in the sump. this is good because that's where you want it so it can be siphoned out.
Now for Shaun this may be a problem because his sump is not quite an empty sump. it houses a huge amount of xenia and macro algae plus a giant clam. I'm more worried for the clam to have that extra detritus coming down and settling in it's home. Shaun will have to be very careful when siphoning out the junk that settles in the bottom tank, you don't want the clam to be exposed. This may be what forces you to place the clam back in the 120 Shaun.
when I clean my sump I usually drain the whole thing and siphon all the junk out. this lets me perform a 45 gallon water change and gets the sump and skimmer looking like new. I just did this yesterday, and boy did the sump need to be cleaned. there was a pretty good pile of detritus sitting in the skimmer section, that was one dark bucket of water that got poured down the toilet. When I see that it makes me glad the only litter box in my house is the one my cat uses :wink1:
If I had the chance to design a sump for a BB tank again I would build sloped bottoms to make collecting the garbage that much easier. instead of being spread out along the whole bottom the detritus would collect at the bottom of the slope, nice and neat.
I forgot to mention one thing, and this is directed more at Shaun than anyone else. But I'm putting it here instead of a pm since it's BB related.
One important thing to remember is that with no sand on the bottom and the proper amount of flow all the detritus will end up in the sump. this is good because that's where you want it so it can be siphoned out.
Now for Shaun this may be a problem because his sump is not quite an empty sump. it houses a huge amount of xenia and macro algae plus a giant clam. I'm more worried for the clam to have that extra detritus coming down and settling in it's home. Shaun will have to be very careful when siphoning out the junk that settles in the bottom tank, you don't want the clam to be exposed. This may be what forces you to place the clam back in the 120 Shaun.
when I clean my sump I usually drain the whole thing and siphon all the junk out. this lets me perform a 45 gallon water change and gets the sump and skimmer looking like new. I just did this yesterday, and boy did the sump need to be cleaned. there was a pretty good pile of detritus sitting in the skimmer section, that was one dark bucket of water that got poured down the toilet. When I see that it makes me glad the only litter box in my house is the one my cat uses
:wink1:If I had the chance to design a sump for a BB tank again I would build sloped bottoms to make collecting the garbage that much easier. instead of being spread out along the whole bottom the detritus would collect at the bottom of the slope, nice and neat.
I often thought about putting a sloped bottom in my sump to help collect the crap in one area but i was never confident enough that the void between the sloped new bottom and the original tank bottom wouldnt fill with water and then be impossible to drain out. Do you know what i mean?
Building a sump from scratch with a sloped bottom is also a recipe for sleepless nights wondering if the silicone joints will hold up.
Building a sump from scratch with a sloped bottom is also a recipe for sleepless nights wondering if the silicone joints will hold up.
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