bare bottom tank how to?

[ethank77]

I need a bit of advice I am building a 125 reef and want to go bare bottom I have heard of people using star board and some use egg crate others use plastic dowl rod, I plan to us plastic down to hold rock work together but the bottom I am not sure what to do. HELP

[Henry Bowman]

IF...you use starboard or a similar product, you need to silicone seal it to the bottom of your tank, otherwise, you'll be getting crud underneath the starboard and not be pleased with the results....Believe me. Been there, done that.

If you are using plastic rod for the rock work, (drilling the rock and stacking it on a rod) I would assume the rods are going to be attached to some kind of base plate. The weight of the rock should hold the plate firmly in place so that you dont get too much junk underneath the plate itself.

If you are just going to stack the rock, I would NOT use the egg crate. I have read several posts where the plastic egg crate has a release agent or chemicals inside it that leach out and cause algae growth.

Before I put substrate in my tank, I used 3" pvc pipe cut into 1-2" disks placed around the bottom of the tank to stabilize the rock upon. This holds the rock off the bottom of the tank a bit allowing the detritus to flow out from under the rock work.

I sanded the pvc before cutting it into sections and then drilled holes in it so that there would be some water flow through the disks. Sanding it took all the writing and letters off the pvc and it quickly grew coraline algea on it.

[ethank77]

Have you ever herd of anyone using plexyglass in sted of star bord

[Tadashi]

Has anyone used the same foam/quickrete that they make the fake rock out of but just coat it with sand and put it on the bottom of their tank to look like a sandbed but act like LR?

[crvz]

why do you want to put anything on the bottom? You don't have to use anything. If you do put something down, I'll disagree with Henry. On a new tank, I put a cutting board flat on the bottom without any silicone or other sealant; for two years (i recently broke down that tank) I didnt have any collection or issues. If you can't put it completely flat on the bottom pane of glass (a shell or clump of dirt or other item gets between the board and bottom, you overlap some silicon seams on the tank, or somehow otherwise arent completely flush), then you may have that problem. It depends on how well you configure everything.

In terms of using a piece of acrylic (plexiglass), you could, but I don't think I'd like the look. A white cutting board is nice (www.cuttingboardcompany.com), some HDPE sheeting is cheaper, but a clear piece of acrylic may be strange.

[coral_lagoon]

In my 60gallon cube reef. I use two sheets of eggcrate supported by 6 2 inch pvc pipes. I also have 2 korlia powerheads on the bottem one on the left and right pointed inward blowing the bottem. I never have any kind of detritus buildup anywhere. This setup also gives my one tang good shelter to. Overall I have 5 korilia powerheads for circulation and 120 plus pounds of Florida liverock ( Tampa Bay).

Couple of videos of my setup
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/rapid25_2009/th_MVI_0686.jpg (http://s690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/rapid25_2009/?action=view&current=MVI_0686.flv)

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/rapid25_2009/th_M4V00172.jpg (http://s690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/rapid25_2009/?action=view&current=M4V00172.flv)

[ethank77]

Thank you aLL for the info and opinions what I was woried about was an accidedtal drop of a rock busting the bottom of the tank where all of my other tanks are coushind by the sand bed. I think I like the hdpe sheeting Idea and the egg crate off the bottom I will way both options again thank you all