How do you keep bare bottom clean?
- Thread starter Lushpan
- Start date
Although I do have sand in my tanks, 1 of the secrets to making the clean up easier, is to not have your rock on the floor. When first setting up my tanks I drilled the base rocks and inserted plexi rods/legs, so that all rock is above the sand (floor)
- Location
- Eastern Long Island
I actually set my rock up with BB maintainence in mind. Since I feed alot of presoaked food, my fish and inverts process alot of poop. All that poop either goes into the overflow and filtered, falls on the rock and gets broken down or falls to the floor where it just sits and causes phosphate/nitrate.
So once a week I do my water change by pulling water and crud from the bottom. The key is to create certain flow patterns that helps to acheive overall suspension. Aiming powerheads downwards, along the back behind my rock wall. If you can do this there will only be a couple places where the stuff will settle. After a little trial and error you can have those settle zones mapped out to be easily reachable with the ole siphon hose.
Just before the water change I take a turkey baster and dust off the rock. An hour later I go ahead and suck it all up. This has really helped keep my system clean and sps friendly.
Hope it helps ya man, definetly invest in a good turkey baster!
So once a week I do my water change by pulling water and crud from the bottom. The key is to create certain flow patterns that helps to acheive overall suspension. Aiming powerheads downwards, along the back behind my rock wall. If you can do this there will only be a couple places where the stuff will settle. After a little trial and error you can have those settle zones mapped out to be easily reachable with the ole siphon hose.
Just before the water change I take a turkey baster and dust off the rock. An hour later I go ahead and suck it all up. This has really helped keep my system clean and sps friendly.
Hope it helps ya man, definetly invest in a good turkey baster!
- Location
- Eastern Long Island
I dunno how so many people have Vortechs. I mean I know they are the best powerheads, lowest footprint and all, but so darn expensive. When it comes to things costing in the $400-$600 zone theres so many other things I could get that would make me content with my Tunzes and Koralias. Dont get me wrong Id love to have Vortechs but Ill probably never use them. Cant justify the cost with my budget lol.
- Location
- Eastern Long Island
Well I can see in your avatar pic why youd want to. but I dont have mine at the bottom. They are actually very close to the surface, just facing at the front glass pointing downward. Two Tunzes are placed this way and one koralia is on the left glass pane near the back panel. Again pointed downward, it keeps behind my rock wall completely settle-free. I figured building upwards as much as possible is best cuz I like the look of the Coralline encrusted open bottom. So I get plenty of LR surface area in there as well as open space at the floor.
Also IMO you really dont want lateral flow like you might get with a floor skimming Vortech. Ive had better success ricocheting against glass on angles, colliding with other pump outputs to create a random flow. I used to do it the other way where I had the three pumps creating a whirlpool flow. This was the absolute best for BB maintanance as it all detritus would pile up in one neat pile. But once I switched to random, colliding flow scheme, the corals, rock and anenomes seemed to appreciate it more.
Of course if you have the vortechs rigged to some ultravariable, randomizing wavemaker, it would probably do the same thing.
One more thing, I also have two sub pumps in my sump returning water back to the MT. These also point down... straight down actually.
Acheive suspension in the best way for you and youll have a much easier time keeping a BB clean. Then all you might wanna do is periodic rock dusting. Youll be amazed how much crud will come out of those knooks n krannys in rock, even if youd done it a week or two earlier. Then again I feed a whole hell of alot. heh.
maybe experiment a lil before you drop the loot on the Vortechs. Those pumps, if affordable, will always be a nice thing to have though. GL mon.
Also IMO you really dont want lateral flow like you might get with a floor skimming Vortech. Ive had better success ricocheting against glass on angles, colliding with other pump outputs to create a random flow. I used to do it the other way where I had the three pumps creating a whirlpool flow. This was the absolute best for BB maintanance as it all detritus would pile up in one neat pile. But once I switched to random, colliding flow scheme, the corals, rock and anenomes seemed to appreciate it more.
Of course if you have the vortechs rigged to some ultravariable, randomizing wavemaker, it would probably do the same thing.
One more thing, I also have two sub pumps in my sump returning water back to the MT. These also point down... straight down actually.
Acheive suspension in the best way for you and youll have a much easier time keeping a BB clean. Then all you might wanna do is periodic rock dusting. Youll be amazed how much crud will come out of those knooks n krannys in rock, even if youd done it a week or two earlier. Then again I feed a whole hell of alot. heh.
maybe experiment a lil before you drop the loot on the Vortechs. Those pumps, if affordable, will always be a nice thing to have though. GL mon.
Thanks, alot of helpful info. I'll try to follow your advice, cause really hate spending money on vortech.
It was already suggested, but not like this.
when I had my 120 bare bottom setup I placed all my rock on starboard. this kept damage at a minimum. I too was worried about detritus build up and so i made a few modifications. just behind the rocks aimed towards the bottom i had a maxijet powerhead with a sureflow modification. every day i would plug it in for about two hours a day just to get the crud up into suspension for easy removal by the skimmer. On the tank I also had two vortech pumps one on each side for wave flow.
The maxijet with a sureflow modification will run you about $30 to $40 . and a good investment I might add. It gives a good flow pattern, on a timer it can also be an excellent wave simulator.
Hope this helps.
when I had my 120 bare bottom setup I placed all my rock on starboard. this kept damage at a minimum. I too was worried about detritus build up and so i made a few modifications. just behind the rocks aimed towards the bottom i had a maxijet powerhead with a sureflow modification. every day i would plug it in for about two hours a day just to get the crud up into suspension for easy removal by the skimmer. On the tank I also had two vortech pumps one on each side for wave flow.
The maxijet with a sureflow modification will run you about $30 to $40 . and a good investment I might add. It gives a good flow pattern, on a timer it can also be an excellent wave simulator.
Hope this helps.
This is what I am talking about. I just did a quick search on Marinedepot.com , but you can look elsewhere.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searc...erheads-Accessories&SearchText=sure flow,flow
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searc...erheads-Accessories&SearchText=sure flow,flow
Wiping is old fashion, now we just blow it with a powerhead
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