Stopping the 110 build until I get some things straight!.....

[naterealbig]

Ok, so I thought I was going to try a quazi-bb setup yesterday. It wasn't truely bare bottom, as I was going to have sand and a refugium in my sump. I had made up my mind on this, and of course when I started posting pics and words I was getting "jabbed" by the true bare bottom enthusiasts (sp).

I didn't want to go truely bare bottom because i was reading through the "my sps are bleaching" thread, and came to this synopsis (please tell me if I have my stuff backwards): The idea of the bb tank is to prevent detritus and rotton food from building up in the aquarium. We do this by 1. Using a skimmer strong enough to pull this stuff out, and by skimming "wet". 2. Using a minimal amount of LR, and typically keeping elevated off of the bottom of the tank. 3. Tons of flow in the main display tank - keeping the detritus suspend in the water column, allowing it to be processed by the filter. 4. No substrate - even in the sump.

This sounds like a novel idea, as I love the "let the tank clean its self" approach (no replacing dsb's, no cleaning the refuge, etc.). Here is the one thing that I am worried about however. I read that bb'ers are running shorter and shorter photoperiods on their tanks in order to prevent their corals from bleaching. I DO NOTwant be limited to keeping my MH's on for 3-4 hours a day. I want to be able to enjoy my tank for 8-10 hrs a day as I always have. If this means that I can do this by using a lower wattage light, then fine. If it means I will need to run a sand bed in the display and forget bare bottom then ok. I have a 110gallon rr tank that is 48x18x30H. What are your suggestions? If I'm going to do this I want to do it right or not at all. Thanks for any and all of the help.

Nate

[Fly Guy]

Sounds like you have it down pretty well.

I for one, do not run all that short of photoperiod for the MH on my BB tank(I run a dsb tank too). for instance, i run my MH for 11 hours on my dsb tank, and 7 on my BB tank. Keep in mind that you can use bulbs with lower par, as well as raise them higher from the water in an effort to keep the MH on for longer. You can also run vho's or T-5 supplementation so that lights of some kind are on all day. I run my VHO actinics for 12-14 hours so I CAN look at the tank all day long.

You will find mixed reviews on the Using a fuge with BB thing, whether it be sand or just macro. I dont believe they are necessary, but many people whop are successful do.

[gwaco]

it sounds like you got it all down . a couple things i would mention though .
you will have to make so adjustments in the early stages of the set-up to find the right balance that keeps things happy , you may have to feed more , feed less , skim drier , skim wetter , as there is no blanket way to do it . remember that as the detritus gets suspended in the water coloum is will also be food for many of the inverts , so instead of the detritus sitting and rotting it actually begins to serve a purpose .
as far as the lighting question goes , you can leave your lights on as long as you want ! you will just have to adjust them depending on your animals needs . you can also raise the lighting higher instead of changing out your wattage , or you can drop in the wattage rating . there is no hard set rule for b.b. method , just a few of the basic things remain sort of standard with the rest being up to you .

[Fly Guy]

ya...gwaco hit on something I didnt. There is no ONE way to do anything. Every system is different and they key to success, is finding the right balance of things that work for you and your system.

[naterealbig]

Great, I think I get the idea. I really appreciate your guys help. I try to find answers to my questions by reading threads and most of the time I do. I just wanted to make sure that I am doing things right and that I don't have a gross conceptual error. I think that I will probably go with a 2x250W DE fixture with PC's and moonlights - again, I would hate to only be able to run the MH's for a couple hours a day. And btw, I can only raise the lights up so high. My canopy is only about 13" or so tall, so the lights will be about 8" from the water at the highest. Thanks again,

Nate

[Viv]

250W seem to be the way to go! I have 400w and they are much to powerful for my BB tank. Truly if I had to do it again I'd get the 250...the water becomes sooooooo clear the light penetrates much easier....thus the less need for such big lights. Nice side effect is the lower watt hours you need to pay for, if that makes any sense.......

[naterealbig]

There's another for the 250W setups. I'm definately going with the 250's. I was skeptical at first about not going with the 400's, but I guess you have to go with the pro's. I actually had placed the 400W lights on order with the LFS, but I was able to stop it. Awaiting my new fixture.....