New tank build (1 Viewer)

[FISHSTICK]

I 'm starting a new tank, its a 270g. Just need input.

 

[FISHSTICK]

If I do bare bottom, I was thinking to put white star board on bottom.

 

[Hurdicuss]

I'm a fan of sand. I like what it has to offer for a reef system. Personally, i don't particularly care for "bare bottom" tanks. Just my $0.02

 

[Guest]

It really comes down to your preference. there are pros and cons for each. Personally I would choose to have sand

 

[FISHSTICK]

Thanks guys.

 

[FISHSTICK]

What if I put a DSB in Refugium?

 

[R-BallJunkie]

What if I put a DSB in Refugium?

Isnt DSB passe?

i think youd be fine with layer of substrate in tank, less than 2-3", fuge with chaeto.

i had DSB, miracle mud, ditched it and my tank really improved.

my .01 cent, i owe you a penny.
c

 

[FISHSTICK]

Thanks. Chuck!

 

[FISHSTICK]

would it look nice with zoas and xenia covering the star board after some time?

 

[decimal]

i have been reading quite a bit about dsb but hooked up inline in a bucket rather than in the tank. this gives you a tremendous amount of sand and area w/o the need to actually put it in your tank. seems to work very well.

 

[AquaNerd]

the lack of sand or the over abundance of sand will really depend on what you want. imho, sps grow better (faster) in a tank with no sand. i really have crvz to thank for my thought processes on this, but sps will grow slow and turn brown in tanks high with nutrients. the sandbed, regardless of depth, in the tank or the refugium will trap detritus like crazy. the detritus will decay and give off nitrate and phosphates. if you run your tank with as low a nutrient level as possible, you'll get better growth and better color. bare bottom tanks will require more flow to keep detritus suspended (or siphoning during water changes) but that can be a great thing in an SPS dominated tank...since they love high flow anyways.

in tanks with sand beds, there are a lot of benefits. the sand, if aragonite based, provides a pH buffer. the deep sand beds also provides a route to remove nitrates. anaerobic bacteria convert nitrate into nitrogen gas that bubbles out of the aquarium. the sand also provide a more natural environment that snails and fish can crawl around in.

all that being said...my next tank will be a bare bottom. my current tank has a 4+ inch sand bed and i love it, but i'm always fighting nutrients.

my .03, chuck...i covered the rest of your tab .

 

[fishcraze]

I have always had DSB in my tanks so I can't make comments on bare bottom tank.

My SPS grow "pretty" fast with good color in my DSB tank Only issue I had with the DSB in the main tank was that the sand on the front side was easily blown off by strong powerheads like Tunze.. So I had to suck most of the fine size sand in the front side out and subdue it with a thin layer of larger size sand. The 4" DSB in the back and under the rock was not disturbed by the powerheads so I left it in tack, and this DSB helped processing the waste accumulate in the back so I don't have to worry about getting flow to those hard to reach areas to keep the detrius suspensed as in bare bottom tanks.

The DSB also allowed me to keep my blue carpet anemone and some wrasses like mystery wrasse and yellow coris wrasse..

So by now you can guess which option I voted for in your poll

 

[R-BallJunkie]

hmm,

Opinions, to the left, opinions to the right.

FC lends more credibility than me.

it seems it might be a wash down the middle, perhaps better reefing skills will dictate your corals success, as folks have gone both ways.
kinda like cooking, either you can or cant (please, no one call the analogy police on me).

Good luck either way, sure your next endeavor will be a nice one.

BTW, how did you get a tank that size past the misses?



c

 

[fishcraze]

it seems it might be a wash down the middle, perhaps better reefing skills will dictate your corals success, as folks have gone both ways.

Agreed! ( though I don't think your cooking anology is any good but I'm not going to police you on that )

 

[bag151]

Fishstick,
Take into account that there are a million different ways to get to the same place in this hobby and just as many factors to go along. So take what you hear with a grain of salt, when someone says they had a horrible experience with a DSB and will never do it again and then fail to mention they were dumping in a gallon of phyto it skews the facts. There are many successful tanks either way, but I am partial to the DSB for three reasons. 1 I have yet to see a reef in nature that doesn't have some form of sand or substrate in it, Two its a excellent biological filter if left alone, and three is helps buffer the system The only downside is keeping the sand from being disturbed. Eric Borneman has a really good artical out on trends on filter methods and substrates in the hobby that I suggest you read if I can find the link. He brings up some very good points on nutrient export with the DSB and how bare bottom didn't work very well before.

I am running a DSB in my 329g.

-Brett

 

[AquaNerd]

Fishstick,
1 I have yet to see a reef in nature that doesn't have some form of sand or substrate in it, Two its a excellent biological filter if left alone, and three is helps buffer the system

totally agree...the dsb is very very natural, and if the sand is an aragonite based material it will buffer the tank's pH. the silicate based sands (like most, if not all of the black sands) and southdown sands won't buffer pH at all. but it will do all the other stuff. the sand bed is also more pleasing to the eye, so that may be a factor.

i personally love the dsb in my 90. i prefer the look over bare bottom, but recently i've been contemplating a bare bottom myself. from looking at the two, the bare bottom seems to be the most nutrient free system. i personally know of two beautiful tanks that are bare bottom, and i've spoken to quite a few other people who run bare bottom, and the one recurring theme is low nutrients. the fish in the tank are more vital in a system like this as they release nutrients in the water to feed the corals. but with no sand you can play around with different flow patterns and not worry about blowing sand all over the place.


and like chuck and brett both touched on...there are a million options available and a million different opinions on each of those options. i say talk to a few people who have a bare bottom and see what they have to say. contact crvz and SeanM and they'll tell you how much they like their bare bottom tanks.

 

[slyfox]

Fishstick,
recently i've been contemplating a bare bottom myself. i've spoken to quite a few other people who run bare bottom, and like chuck and brett both touched on... i say talk to a few people who have a bare bottom and see what they have to say. contact crvz and SeanM and they'll tell you how much they like their bare bottom .

interesting points brandon..

 

[R-BallJunkie]

it seems it might be a wash down the middle, perhaps better reefing skills will dictate your corals success, as folks have gone both ways.

Agreed! ( though I don't think your cooking anology is any good but I'm not going to police you on that )

Oh yeah?

you havent tasted my wifes bad cooking!

c

 

[FISHSTICK]

new tank build

Ok guys, I've decided to go with sand on the bottom, but not too much. It just looks more realistic. Here are some pics of what I have been doing. It's not the fanciest thing, but I'm not a carpenter either. LMK what you think and any input will be great.

 

[cstewart79]

looking great!!!