My BB Fish tank "Building" Thread

[oulinglu]

Ok here we go, after getting tired of having sand and cyno and other crazy stuff, I have decided to buy a new tank and go BB. The old tank was just too dirty for it to be cleaned.

I decided to use this kind of blinds to cover up the imperfections behind the tank. It is just enough for light to pass through and make me feel like I'm sititng infront of a beach front window.

The tank size is 48''X18''X17'' Rimeless with 3 sides Starphire and 1.5'' down, and 1'' upflow. I don't like the look of overflow so I just went with a elbow. This way I can also adjust the water level in the tank, and use it as a siphon when need to do a 90% water change.
custom mirrors are laid on the bottom of the tank.


The lights will be 400W X 2 but will be going with the HQI 400Ws instead. I stick to my maxim of never having enough light.

[Geoff]

you will not need 400w lights if it is going to be BB. i have downgraded my tank from 400w's to low par 250w's in order to keep the bleaching under control. this is on a 22" deep tank. on a 17" tank 175w bulbs will be plenty.

if you plan on having a huge remote sand bed then you could stick with the 400w, but it would need to be a huge sand bed.

G~

[oulinglu]

Ok i'm a absolute noob to the whole no sand deal, but why do I need a huge remote sand bed if I got more lights? More food ate by corals = more light needed??

[Geoff]

the amount of light needed to keep a corals colour is totally dependent on the amount of phosphates in the water column. the more phosphates the more light needed to burn off the brown zooax in the coral so that the brightly coloured symbionts could be expressed. the lower the phosphates the less light needed to express these brightly coloured symbionts.

the reason why we go BB is so that we can keep the phosphates very low. less light needed, and less maintenance needed, by not having to replace the sand bed on a regular basis.

having a remote sand bed allows the tank to have a reliable consistent phosphate level in the tank. you can adjust the lighting as the sand bed matures. the older it gets the more light needed to keep the colours till at some point it goes bad and needs to replaced. at his point you start over again.

G~