MisterTang April 21, 2017 April 21, 2017 One of the nice things about starting my third iteration of a reef tank from scratch is that I'm locked into very little but have a lot of experience. Shortly after starting my second tank and attending a WAMAS event that Copps presented at, I realized I wanted a bare-bottom reef tank. I know that "starboard" (or plastic/cutting board you lay on the bottom) is popular with some. I have also read some who prefer to just sit the rock down on the bottom glass. I am leaning towards having no starboard because I don't want detritus to get caught under there, and detritus/cleaning flexibility is my primary reason for ditching a sand bed altogether - I am not sure about the downsides of not having anything there. More likely to crack the glass on my Nuvo 38? I'm looking for opinions, advice, insults, or whatever you've got on the topic. As an aside, I don't particularly *like* the bare-bottom look, but I have a lot of rock and am hoping that coraline will cover the bottom in fairly short order. This move is purely for function, not aesthetics.
mari.harutunian April 21, 2017 April 21, 2017 You could do a gsp bottom. To make the rocks stand you could cut them flat on one side so they don't fall. Pukani is very easy to do this with. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
GOSKN5 April 21, 2017 April 21, 2017 I have painted the bottom (underside) on my last three barebottom tanks. I absolutely love this option. It gives a nice reflection, illusion of sand in pics and even in person to some degree. My rocks have all been directly on the glass. There was a BRS article the other day that discussed the rocks being right on the glass.. they concluded that there was very minimal if any risk to this approach... I have never been concerned.. but you can always get flat bottom rocks.. or just cut them down some so they are fairly flat on the bottom.. Goodluck.. Here are a few pics of my last couple tanks and my current one with the white painted bottom.. Current tank.. 120 gallon.. Previous tanks I didn't keep this one up long.. People will say it's not natural... blah blah.. what's natural about keeping corals and fish from different parts of the world in a glass box?? Also there are plenty of places on the reef where you won't see any sand on the bottom... I love the ease of cleaning a BB tank and likely will never have sand again... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
sethsolomon April 21, 2017 April 21, 2017 I have painted the bottom (underside) on my last three barebottom tanks. I absolutely love this option. It gives a nice reflection, illusion of sand in pics and even in person to some degree. My rocks have all been directly on the glass. There was a BRS article the other day that discussed the rocks being right on the glass.. they concluded that there was very minimal if any risk to this approach... I have never been concerned.. but you can always get flat bottom rocks.. or just cut them down some so they are fairly flat on the bottom.. Goodluck.. Here are a few pics of my last couple tanks and my current one with the white painted bottom.. Current tank.. 120 gallon.. Previous tanks I didn't keep this one up long.. People will say it's not natural... blah blah.. what's natural about keeping corals and fish from different parts of the world in a glass box?? Also there are plenty of places on the reef where you won't see any sand on the bottom... I love the ease of cleaning a BB tank and likely will never have sand again... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Super awesome tanks!
AlanM April 21, 2017 April 21, 2017 I went bare bottom with this tank. No starboard, just rocks on glass. It's cool to see how the detritus doesn't stay in the tank. It goes to corners and out the overflow.
MisterTang April 21, 2017 Author April 21, 2017 I have painted the bottom (underside) on my last three barebottom tanks. I absolutely love this option. It gives a nice reflection, illusion of sand in pics and even in person to some degree. My rocks have all been directly on the glass. There was a BRS article the other day that discussed the rocks being right on the glass.. they concluded that there was very minimal if any risk to this approach... I have never been concerned.. but you can always get flat bottom rocks.. or just cut them down some so they are fairly flat on the bottom.. Goodluck.. Here are a few pics of my last couple tanks and my current one with the white painted bottom.. Current tank.. 120 gallon.. People will say it's not natural... blah blah.. what's natural about keeping corals and fish from different parts of the world in a glass box?? Also there are plenty of places on the reef where you won't see any sand on the bottom... I love the ease of cleaning a BB tank and likely will never have sand again... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Wow GOSKN5, that is just remarkable. It never occurred to me to paint the underside of my tank... derp on my part. What kind of paint did you use that adhered so well to glass and looks so naturally sand-like? This is definitely 100% what I'm going for. Might even like to do black, because I've always heard that black-sand tanks look nice but are a PITA to clean. I went bare bottom with this tank. No starboard, just rocks on glass. It's cool to see how the detritus doesn't stay in the tank. It goes to corners and out the overflow. As always, I'm just a bit behind you Alan - on this and on the Reef Angel RF stuff . He just shipped one of the last of his RF modules to me yesterday after your thread where you got him to admit he had a couple left over. I'm hoping that getting it to work with a prospective Radion isn't a crap-ton of work.
Origami April 21, 2017 April 21, 2017 Nice look. Over the long term, though, how do you keep stuff like coralline from changing the look of the bottom? Do you have to periodically move things around and scrape the bottom glass?
GOSKN5 April 22, 2017 April 22, 2017 (edited) Nice look. Over the long term, though, how do you keep stuff like coralline from changing the look of the bottom? Do you have to periodically move things around and scrape the bottom glass?Yep... I scrape the bottom where I can... move stuff if possible.. eventually it might be a losing battle in some spots.. but I can keep a portion clean I think Wow GOSKN5, that is just remarkable. It never occurred to me to paint the underside of my tank... derp on my part. What kind of paint did you use that adhered so well to glass and looks so naturally sand-like? This is definitely 100% what I'm going for. Might even like to do black, because I've always heard that black-sand tanks look nice but are a PITA to clean. As always, I'm just a bit behind you Alan - on this and on the Reef Angel RF stuff . He just shipped one of the last of his RF modules to me yesterday after your thread where you got him to admit he had a couple left over. I'm hoping that getting it to work with a prospective Radion isn't a crap-ton of work. Just a high quality spray paint is all I used... lay it on thick and do multiple coats Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk Edited April 22, 2017 by GOSKN5
AlanM April 22, 2017 April 22, 2017 I hope the RA works out for you. I'm still liking mine, but haven't really reprogrammed it for the new tank. I am growing a good crop of coralline on my bottom glass. I'll just leave it.
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