Alternative to barebottom?

[danielll]

Could anyone tell me if this is a viable option, and what issues I might face? I want to pull all my live rock, remove all my sand, and 'install' a rock lined bottom. i saw these decent flat rocks at the lfs and i think if i laid plexiglass along the bottom, i could line the entire bottom with rock and create a much better look without simply doing barebottom.


Also, in doing this, It's unlikely I will create a cycle right? All rock would be moved to the sump or a bucket with tank water in it, and all sand would be carefully removed... plus i can finally catch that damsel.

I believe that rock would eventually seed, and be a part of my live rock, which would be great, plus i will stop having the issues with holes being made in my sand from the returns.

Just getting some thoughts right now, but if you guys dont think it will be a bad thing, I will post a project on it. In california right now on business, entertaining myself my planning my next projects

 

[lilrobb]

The gaps between the rocks will be massive detritus collectors!

 

[danielll]

any thoughts on minimizing detritus buildup? there would be a considerable amount of flow on the bottom, and i would ofcourse be vacuuming it during my weekly water change.

 

[acroholic]

Danielll;624304 wrote: any thoughts on minimizing detritus buildup? there would be a considerable amount of flow on the bottom, and i would ofcourse be vacuuming it during my weekly water change.

You could fill the gaps between the rocks with silicone.

 

[danielll]

yeah i was hoping no-one would say that that will mean I will have to assemble it outside of the tank, and drop it in but yeah i was thinking along those lines.

It might be worth it though, I think this could look really good with some effort.

 

[mockery]

I think the best thing to do would be to put starboard down on the bottom of the tank.

Here's an example.

 

[rbredding]

you could put the rocks down like you want.. and then use a very minor amount of sand (form your system would be best) to "grout the gaps between the rock"..

it could be enough sand to just fill the gaps (but still remain out of site within the gaps)


or you could just do exactly what you were planning, but once a month, blast the joints of the rock to push the ditritus into the water column.. then vacuum it out when you do your water change..

I think that if you just use a vacuum every other time you do a WC, you'll get most of it..

 

[acroholic]

Here is an alternative. These are usually sold as in-tank aquarium backgrounds, but no reason they could not be an aquarium bottom as well. I've talked with the company owner/guy in the videos. They are completely fresh and saltwater safe.

Find a flat one and silicone it to the bottom of the tank.

 

[danielll]

Rbredding;624313 wrote: you could put the rocks down like you want.. and then use a very minor amount of sand (form your system would be best) to "grout the gaps between the rock"..

it could be enough sand to just fill the gaps (but still remain out of site within the gaps)


or you could just do exactly what you were planning, but once a month, blast the joints of the rock to push the ditritus into the water column.. then vacuum it out when you do your water change..

I think that if you just use a vacuum every other time you do a WC, you'll get most of it..

That is pretty much what i was thinking, im just concerned with the long term, whether or not unseen buildup might cause toxic conditions.

@archolic those are really nice, I will definetely look into that.

 

[rbredding]

you can always get around it by just using rock (no sand) and have a powerhead down low, constantly blowing full force across the bottom of the tank.. (not sure what size it is or if that's an option for you)

 

[texhorns98]

Acroholic;624315 wrote: Here is an alternative. These are usually sold as in-tank aquarium backgrounds, but no reason they could not be an aquarium bottom as well. I've talked with the company owner/guy in the videos. They are completely fresh and saltwater safe.

Find a flat one and silicone it to the bottom of the tank.

http://www.universalhabitat.com/">http://www.universalhabitat.com/</a>[/QUOTE]

What's the pricing like on those? Couldn't find it on their site.

 

[acroholic]

texhorns98;624348 wrote: What's the pricing like on those? Couldn't find it on their site.

I think you need to call them. That website is brand new, and they might not have it it completely done. Their old website had pricing. The owner is really nice. He's Australian. Some of his backgrounds are sold on Foster & Smith.

 

[texhorns98]

$200 to cover a 48" tank. Not bad!

 

[casper75]

i have seen people mix sand and exopy and use that for there bottom. It gives you the look of sand but the same effect as a bare bottom

 

[danielll]

casper75;624358 wrote: i have seen people mix sand and exopy and use that for there bottom. It gives you the look of sand but the same effect as a bare bottom

I thought about that, but its not something I could easily do on an existing tank. It would though work wonderfully.

 

[morganatlanta]

You could use "Aragocrete" (concrete made with aragonite sand). You could sculpt it to how you want it to look. If you made the surface relatively smooth, there wouldn't be holes for detritus to build up in. Eventually the whole thing could be covered with GSP, zoas, palys, etc. You have to plan in advance though since you have to let it "cure" for a couple months.

 

[johnmackay70]

I was seriously considering the aragocrete/LR option myself - I have not fully ruled it out yet, but I will probably end up going sand

 

[danielll]

I think I have settled on the rock bottom, and high flow. I love the look of sand, but i want the ease and flow of barebottom.

On a side note, I am in california right now doing a project, and that project involves a very large crate to be shipped from france. After we unloaded it, i caught myself eyeing that 18ftx10ftx10ft crate pondering if it could be used to create a tank (plywood expoxy thing) I looked it up, thats like 12,000 gallons! *DROOL* I did have to go back to the install, but it was a nice thought.

Hell I couldnt afford the salt for that, let alone the rock, fish, etc.

Edit: I think I have settled on going with the rock bottom, and high flow to keep it clean, coupled with vacuuming, which should be pretty easy to do. I will attempt to get a large rock under my reef so that i dont have any cracks for debris under the live rock.

On a side note, I am in california doing a system install, and we had to have the system shipped from france, the crate it came in is 18ftx10ftx10ft. i caught myself staring at the crate dreamily pondering how I could turn it into a plywood/expoxy tank. after realizing that a 10% water change would be 1200 gallons, I sadly went back to the install

 

[danielll]

no idea why it just did that.

 

[rbredding]

13,464 gallons..

or 3,110,400 cubic inches of volume...