Are you happy with your BB Tank?

[Sabella]

Hi

I am considering changing my SPS tank from a DSB option to BB (or sand for aesthetic purposes only which would be vacuumed weekly) and wanted some comments from those that have already made the change in their tanks.

1. Are you happy with the change?

2. What have been the greatest benefits?

3. Are there any regrets?

4. etc etc

I welcome all opinions.

Thanks

Sabella

[loster]

i am having BB for coming 3 months... so, i can only give you my point of view from my 3 months experience

1. Are you happy with the change?

i am happy with the changed. easy to maintain. i like my back bottom look. but sometime i miss the sand looks...

2. What have been the greatest benefits?

easy to maintain. 95% of my rocks are new. so, i don't have much problem with hair algae for the 1st time

3. Are there any regrets?

now, i have no regret... but sometime i miss the sandy look... to console myself, i would tell myself that black bottom not so bad. classic look but now the coraline algae started to grow on the bottom

[weileong]

7 months into BB.

1. Are you happy with the change?

Yes, acros color are more brilliant after the change. Easier to keep the tank cleaner and you can "control" the colors (lighter/darker) by varying the feeding of fishes in the tank.

2. What have been the greatest benefits?

Coloration of acros.

3. Are there any regrets?

I regret adding DSB in the first place and having to spend 3 days (18*3 = 54hrs) removing them.

[planetg]

Like to add that with BB, dirt and shit accumulation is more obvious and unsightly if not removed. so depends on how u see it, it can either be good or bad for u.

And it allows me to have strong flow even on the bottom of the tank.

With BB, u will beb able to spot dead spots very easily, if any.

Cheers

[Sabella]

I am intending to keep a very shallow sand bed and vacuum it on a regular basis so effectively it is like a BB system. I am a little concerned on preparation of the live rock however.

Did those that went from DSD to BB "Cook the Rock" as such?

[hamannbmw]

i didnt cook my rocks, but after coverting from DSB to BB, I had a algae bloom for about 2 months. Now, my tank is clean w/o algae.

[weileong]

I am intending to keep a very shallow sand bed and vacuum it on a regular basis so effectively it is like a BB system.

How abt those areas under the LR where you cannot vaccum them?

With BB you can have a close loop or tunze them out.

[madmac]

9 mths into BB so far. At the 6 mth point, my rocks were covered with a brown sheeting algae that the snails refused to take out. I had to have the rocks cooked to get rid of it.

They're looked then and looked better now. : ) I would recommend anyone who wanted to go BB to have your LRs cooked. Its a great start. And when you introduce them back into your main system, have plenty of snails ready.

The look of sand is a perception thing, sometimes guest don't even realized that there is no sand in the tank, if you don't mention it. Bomber has always maintained that a sand substrate is the largest living organism, requiring a great deal out of the system. Thats something I don't quite care for as its not what I intend to keep.

The only challenge I see it the removal of the snail poo, which I see a lot of. Try as hard as I can, with only 2 streams and 1 return, I'm unable to arrange it such that it gets swept up to the overflow. So I still have to syphon them out. WeiLeong, or hamannbmw, if you have ideas... I kinda of tired of doing the syphon every now and again... lazy lah. Thx.

[Jackson6745]

7 months into BB.

1. Are you happy with the change?

Yes, acros color are more brilliant after the change. Easier to keep the tank cleaner and you can "control" the colors (lighter/darker) by varying the feeding of fishes in the tank.

2. What have been the greatest benefits?

Coloration of acros.

3. Are there any regrets?

I regret adding DSB in the first place and having to spend 3 days (18*3 = 54hrs) removing them.

I've been BB for 8 months and I agree 100% with everything you said.

[Jackson6745]

Just curious, what are your photoperiods on your BB tanks?

I am running my halides for 2 1/2hrs daily and VHO actinics for 8hrs. If I increase the halide photoperiod the coral colors start to lighten up a little.