Going barebottom!

[mikerobart]

I have been lazy the past little while and have slightly screwed myself over ! Hair algae is everywhere, nitrates too high, phosphates are definitely measureable... I think I need to get myself in gear and do an overhaul ! I don't think fighting the algae water change by water change is the best method so my plan is to basically kinda start fresh.  I understand the algae problem and its causes so I am not kidding myself... 100% knew it would happen pretty much with my lack of water changes and heavy feeding lately. That and my trigger deciding to kill at least 2 dozen snails, take a bit out of my yellow tang (later died) .... a few corals killing each other and leaving them in the tank... there have been some bioload issues to say the least ! No doubt the rocks and sand are loaded to the brim with phos and nitrate.

I will fill a 29gallon with 65w pc and carbon/ filter floss with 100% fresh water and house the fish and coral from my 90g there temporarily while I clean up my rock, remove sand, and do a 100% water change in the 90.

I plan to take this opportunity to go barebottom as I have been thinking this is best for me for some time. Not sure how much if any of the live rock will go back into the 90g, but it depends if I can "cook " the rock acceptably in a relatively short time ( a few weeks at most. )

Basically I would be scrubbing it, rinsing it, and leaving it in a dark rubbermaid with powerheads, doing a few 100% water changes in the rubbermaid over the course of a week or two.  Worthwhile or just bleach the hell out of it and then cycle all over again?

Basically I want a blank slate so I can get on track with husbandry again and not let things get like this. I don't think I can get the parameters where I want them without these drastic measures . Algae makes me very angry.

All this even though I may be moving to TO in July... still has to be done I think !

Other questions... can I put the rock right on the glass and not worry too much or should I be looking for some HDPE / "starboard" somewhere in Ottawa to use as a base?

Ideas welcomed as get things back on track here!

Thanks

[Severum]

At first glance I thought you were planning on going to the next OVAS meeting with no pants on.

If I were you I'd cook the rock for as long as you can rather than bleaching it. 4 weeks would be nice. You can leave fish in your tank with minimal filtration as long as your upon water changes.

I have no experience with rocks right on the bottom. You'd probably end of scratching it but does that really matter?

[mikerobart]

Yeah I am not worried about scratching the bottom at all.. my only concern would be cracking it if a rock fell etc. I really don't know what the glass on a 90g can take ? A rock fall from how high... if it landed on a point..hmm.

Four weeks may be pushing it but I might go for it. In terms of filtration there will be my msx200, filter socks, and a pretty big media reactor running carbon and gfo... and hopefully won't loose too much of the good bacteria if I do cook instead of bleach.

The fish and coral will be in the 29g which has carbon and filter floss (its an old eclipse 29g aio).. and I guess I could throw one piece of the rock in there to have a little biofiltration..

There will be plenty of flow in both tanks.

Going to have lots of fun with the shop vac when I get started on this that is for sure. I think I might reward myself with some new toys when the job is done. Prices on those mp40's have come down since the new drivers came out  .

[PowderBlueTang]

I have 120 gal barebottom for the same issue you are going through, As long you have two strong powerheads circulating your tank and a good skimmer, your all set. I have my LR in the middle of the tank, if you lean the LR on the back glass it will create a dead spot and trap all the unwanted fish poo and uneaten food. This can create the same chemisry problems as before.

I just put the LR on the bare glass, try the larger piece on the botton and the smaller on the top. I had a LR the size of a basketball fall from half way height of the tank and it slowly fall. The water cushions the fall so no harm done.

Try getting a sea hare to eat all your algea, if that works you dont have to cook your rocks.

[mikerobart]

Thanks PowderBlue... I am really set on barebottom and don't mind the look like some people do. I will have to think about the sea hare but as I am concerned about the amount of crap stuck in the rocks themselves I may do some cooking anyways. I am going to try to have quite a bit of flow once I get all the sand out etc.

[Hookup]

I think RossW had mentioned to me some kind of white plastic cutting-board style material that can be used on the bottom of the tank to give a white look, for a while, to the bottom and still have a bare-bottom.

[mikerobart]

Yeah I have heard of people using something called starboard ( I think it's hdpe)... Not sure if I should use it or not bother. I imagine Canus plastics or someone else will have it locally.

[ciaus]

I have a FW tank and bare bottom.  I do not place anything under the rocks in the tank, and have several tip over on me....so far it holds just fine...

(EDITED to remove incorrect info)

You may want to consider painting the tank bottom, as some livestock can become disoriented if they can see "though" the bottom.  I used a sand stone texture paint and it turned out actually looking like a sandy bottom...check the images in my gallery....

HTH

Ciaus

[mikerobart]

I have some spare eggcrate handy, guess it's am option. Interesting idea with painting.

[ciaus]

The painted surface is the OUTSIDE of the tank.....

Ciaus

[mikerobart]

It better be  . Not sure I'd trust krylon fusion inside ! I imagine the bottom will get coralline eventually either way unless I scraped it as well as the sides.

[Snider82]

go with the sea hare!    i swear by them!   I have been fighting hair algae too.   i felt like a loss cause for a while.  I have a crappy super skimmer, so to get it to work half decent i have to adjust it 2-3 times daily,  i don't have NEAR enough CUC.   with the hare, skimmer, part time carbon, and weekly 10% Water changes it looks like im finally wining the fight.   next step is to replace my bulbs.       after my wedding I'm DEFENATLY going to upgrade my skimmer.

[Brent Shaver]

Add it to your gift registery...grins  maybe some other items as well but wouldnt hurt..lol

[charmed1]

The white material is called starboard,  look up this thread,

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=13986.msg107162#msg107162

xenon does some beatiful work !

[mikerobart]

Thanks for the link. I've been reading about the starboard some use it some don't. I'm not decided yet. In the added flow deparment I just picked up an mp40w ahhh this is a sexy pump excited to get it going when I get home ! Should pretty much double the flow I have now.

[Snider82]

Please post pics of your barebottom    im very intererested in seeing what it looks like.   

~that would sound bad if nobody knew what the thread was about

[ciaus]

Please post pics of your barebottom    im very intererested in seeing what it looks like.   
~that would sound bad if nobody knew what the thread was about

Snider, It still sounds wrong....

[mikerobart]

Still not barebottom yet but I'll be sure to post pics when she's got nothin covering her.

[salvini55]

yea yea mp40's rock the tank... literally

[mikerobart]

Oh it's rocking alright! It's on the top 1/3 of the tank and my clam 2.5 ft away is having it's mantle folded TOWARDs the pump from the undertow in reefcrest mode. Gf thinks I'm crazy for dropping that coin on a pump the size of a coffee cup... Not like her handbags can move water 3200 gph!