bare bottom tank

[simple]

Hi, im setting up my third tank, a 10 gallon, and i wanted to know what were the benefits of setting up a barebottom tank (no sand).

 

[Brian5000]

Benefits: Very easy to clean. There's nothing on the bottom to hold crud. Just siphon away.

Detriments: Not as athetic as sand (my personal opinion). Some fish may not be able to tell which way is up and behave strangely. Obviously, no sand sifting critters.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the inch sand bed. Just enough to cover the bottom, but still fairly easy to clean.
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[simple]

yea i think ill go for that, because i tried a dsb and it was really a pain in the...tush, and i didn't see a huge difference.

 

[cindre2000]

Uhm. Fish figure out which way is up through gravity, not because there is sand underneath them; and you forgot the most important benefit:

Insane flow. With out sand to get blow around you can ratchet up the flow in the tank!

 

[Anonymous]

Benefits: Very easy to clean. There's nothing on the bottom to hold crud. Just siphon away.

Detriments: Not as athetic as sand (my personal opinion). Some fish may not be able to tell which way is up and behave strangely. Obviously, no sand sifting critters.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the inch sand bed. Just enough to cover the bottom, but still fairly easy to clean.

Both set ups have there pros and cons. I actually prefer the look of a bare bottom tank so that is just a person preference and not really a "con". The critter have no problem whit which way is up? You are limitef to no sand sifting critter, but a tank usually does not have enough life in the sand to support them long term anyway.

 

[Brian5000]

Uhm. Fish figure out which way is up through gravity, not because there is sand underneath them

Sorry, my mistake. Someone had told me once about a weird fish. I guess I can't be certain what all of the circumstances where or how true it was.
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[camaroracer214]

Pros of a bare bottom tank:
-you can have very high flow
-no need to buy all that extra sand
-no need to worry about a sandbed crash
-may look pretty, depending on "eye of the beholder"

Cons of a bare bottom tank:
-you have to have a lot of flow or you get a lot of detritus buildup on the bottom
-can't have any sand sifting critters (certain fish, certain snails, and certain sea stars)
-may not look as pretty as a sand bed tank
-less surface area for nitrifying (beneficial) bacteria
-you have to have something like starboard (cutting board looking material) or eggcrate so the rocks don't scratch up the glass or crack it if they fall

 

[Anonymous]

Pros of a bare bottom tank:
-you can have very high flow
-no need to buy all that extra sand
-no need to worry about a sandbed crash
-may look pretty, depending on "eye of the beholder"

Cons of a bare bottom tank:
-you have to have a lot of flow or you get a lot of detritus buildup on the bottom
-can't have any sand sifting critters (certain fish, certain snails, and certain sea stars)
-may not look as pretty as a sand bed tank
-less surface area for nitrifying (beneficial) bacteria
-you have to have something like starboard (cutting board looking material) or eggcrate so the rocks don't scratch up the glass or crack it if they fall

You don't need to have lots of flow. Proper flow will build up the detritus in places it can be easily syphoned with weekly water changes

True about the sandsifting critters

Looks are opinions

True on the less surface area.

Putting something on the bottom is not necessary.

 

[camaroracer214]

You don't need to have lots of flow. Proper flow will build up the detritus in places it can be easily syphoned with weekly water changes

Putting something on the bottom is not necessary.

-yeah, both of those were based more on my opinion and from what i've seen with other barebottom tanks.

-i'd recommend a lot of flow across the bottom of the tank especially to keep the detritus off the bottom. again, not necessary, but weekly siphoning isn't necessarily fun (although necessary to remove the detritus) and can remove any beneficial organisms that are in the detritus either hiding or eating. plus it might be hard to siphon detritus out from under a rock or something if it gets blown under there.

-putting something on the bottom is not necessary, but i'd recommend it. just moving those rocks a little bit can create some ugly scratches and decrease the resell value of the tank if you wanted to sell the tank later on. also, a falling rock that is knocked over by a snail, urchin, or simply a lot of flow can crack a tank very quickly (depending on glass thickness, size of the rock, and height of the fall of course)

 

[ChrisRD]

IME all systems build-up detritus whether BB or not. You can just SEE the detritus accumulating in a bare bottom setup and therefore get it out of the system. IMO this is a pro of a BB setup, not a con.

As for covering the bottom of glass tanks - I've never done it. I've had several glass BB tanks over the years and I've never damaged or broken any of them. In truth, I've never seen/heard of anyone I know in the hobby who runs BB to have this problem...

JME

 

[Anonymous]

You don't need to have lots of flow. Proper flow will build up the detritus in places it can be easily syphoned with weekly water changes

Putting something on the bottom is not necessary.

-yeah, both of those were based more on my opinion and from what i've seen with other barebottom tanks.

-i'd recommend a lot of flow across the bottom of the tank especially to keep the detritus off the bottom. again, not necessary, but weekly siphoning isn't necessarily fun (although necessary to remove the detritus) and can remove any beneficial organisms that are in the detritus either hiding or eating. plus it might be hard to siphon detritus out from under a rock or something if it gets blown under there.

-putting something on the bottom is not necessary, but i'd recommend it. just moving those rocks a little bit can create some ugly scratches and decrease the resell value of the tank if you wanted to sell the tank later on. also, a falling rock that is knocked over by a snail, urchin, or simply a lot of flow can crack a tank very quickly (depending on glass thickness, size of the rock, and height of the fall of course)

A lot of flow across the bottom is not really necessary. Good flow planing is more important. I have my current BB tank set up to push all the detritus up to the front left in a nice little pile. Sucking it up take all of a minute. I spend the rest of the WC harvesting bubble algae, which is a much greator pain. Most people miss out on the fact that behind the rock pile is is a low flow area and things will settle there and not be able to be syphoned out. This can cause a problem long term with a BB tank.

As far as putting something on the bottom. It is really not necessary. Most of our hobby gear takes a drastic price hit as soon as we walk out the store with it. A few scratches on the bottom would not make much if any difference on the resale price. For as the rock dropping issue that is also not a big issues on larger tank. To get 1/2 glass to crack you would almost have to throw a fair sized rock in the tank with no water in it. I am on my third BB tank, the second glass one. I have had multiple rock slides in both and never had them break. The much spoke about tank breaks are relatively few and far between considering the amout of people that keep tanks (reef, fish only and fresh).

 

[camaroracer214]

A few scratches on the bottom would not make much if any difference on the resale price. For as the rock dropping issue that is also not a big issues on larger tank. To get 1/2 glass to crack you would almost have to throw a fair sized rock in the tank with no water in it. I am on my third BB tank, the second glass one. I have had multiple rock slides in both and never had them break. The much spoke about tank breaks are relatively few and far between considering the amout of people that keep tanks (reef, fish only and fresh).

ahhh, but we're talking about a 10 gallon tank here.

check this link out:
http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92079

this guy lives near me and has a large barebottom tank. he put some starboard on the bottom. it looks good and protects the glass. we are going to have differing opinions, as most topics do. i like the starboard look and it provides a great barrier between the glass and the rocks.

he also has a koralia #4 positioned at the bottom of the back pane of glass and has it blowing across the bottom. he doesn't even hardly have to siphon anymore.

 

[ChrisRD]

I currently have a 10 gallon nano in my bedroom with just a bare glass bottom - no problems. :wink:

That said, I agree that the glass on the standard el cheapo 10 gallon tanks is super thin and extra care should be taken with them for sure...

 

[Anonymous]

A few scratches on the bottom would not make much if any difference on the resale price. For as the rock dropping issue that is also not a big issues on larger tank. To get 1/2 glass to crack you would almost have to throw a fair sized rock in the tank with no water in it. I am on my third BB tank, the second glass one. I have had multiple rock slides in both and never had them break. The much spoke about tank breaks are relatively few and far between considering the amout of people that keep tanks (reef, fish only and fresh).

ahhh, but we're talking about a 10 gallon tank here.

check this link out:
http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92079

this guy lives near me and has a large barebottom tank. he put some starboard on the bottom. it looks good and protects the glass. we are going to have differing opinions, as most topics do. i like the starboard look and it provides a great barrier between the glass and the rocks.

he also has a koralia #4 positioned at the bottom of the back pane of glass and has it blowing across the bottom. he doesn't even hardly have to siphon anymore.

If you like the look and feel that it helps you them that is fine. To tell someone it is necessary is not true.

Personally I do not care for the look of starboard. If I wanted something on my tank bottom I would put coarse sand so it would not be blown around and could be syphoned.

BTW I know a guy that lives by you that has a tank of similar size that does not have starboard on the bottom. I think the tank looks nice. It is just over a year old and the coral are all from frags.

Here is his tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Most people miss out on the fact that behind the rock pile is is a low flow area and things will settle there and not be able to be syphoned out. This can cause a problem long term with a BB tank.

I have always had my suspicions that causes problems in tanks in general, DSB or BB.