Under the Board!

[Casey]

Alright you dont mess around I love it!

[trueblackpercula]

"The board itself had algae growing on the underside, along with brown stain (what the brown was, I don't know-some kind of nasty algae I'm sure)"

How can algea grow in the dark? do you have lights under the tank? algea needs light to grow.

[Viv]

I understand what your saying but its there, very green. Maybe random room light? When I have my lights on everything in the area is lit!! There was a small amount of detrius in the crack between the BB board and the glass...when I siphoned this out some staining on the board edge turned a pale green-maybe in crept underneath, I really don't know but it was there and had a great environment to grow...warm with lots, and I mean lots, of detrius. I truly am happy to have gotten rid of the board. I'm excited about my tank again and feel the environment I will now provide has no questions about how its doing...I believe the rising nitrates had to do with what was under the board, not the rock. The rock had been cured prior to its placement on the board...and really wasn't shedding (unless all the shedding went under the board). Whatever, I'm really happy, now I don't really have to test to see, I can see - and test the water!

[trueblackpercula]

I am very happy that you are happy.

[Twitterbait]

I have seen algae grow in the dark. if it has the nutrients it can do just fine with minimal light. remember also that starboard is not perfectly opaque so some light will travel though it as well.

[Little Luey]

Is your board not flat? how did anything get under it? if you did not have the board completly flat on the glass I can see how this could have happened, otherway I don't know.
here is a picture of a tank I saw and I ended up doing something similar to it but with smaller legs.

[Little Luey]

I tried the PVC frame for the egg crate but it look too high on my tank, it is only a 55gal so it really was an eye sore. What I did was to cut 1/2 pieces of 1 1/2 diameter PVC and make some notches on one side so if there is any debry inside the tube it can come out. Now, from my chair all I see is the side of the egg crate, and there is flow under it to blow out any detritus tha may fall or any rock sheeding stuff.

[Viv]

I think if you go under your cabinet with a flashlight and look at the underside of the tank you'd be very suprised at what you'd find. All that fine shedding and breakdown of food that you siphon out will also float to areas of little flow ( under rock, board, in rock,...) I think thats the idea behind high flow ( to get the crap out)...I really was staying on top of the siphoning and there was tons of stuff...my flow is ok, could be better-but the snails when loose do take a ride across the tank. The board was flat against the bottom, but not glued down in anyway-maybe the flow pushed the stuff under...but I gotta tell ya, It was one of the better things I've done for my tank, and at this point the esthetics of a BB without the board has become a pleasing look for me...there are some beautiful DSB tanks out there, and I really can't figure out how they are doing it without replacement of the bed and animals to keep the bed and glass and rock clean, lots of extras to keep everything in balance, refugiums and all (and I'm not knocking them in anyway-'cause different strokes for different folks) but gee's I'm tired of dealing with the excessive cleaning and balancing and testing and getting off on sand worms and sea stars, for me , well I'd like to get to the corals and fish, cause I'm old and to0 tired to deal with high maintenence, need my tank for veggin out.

[Viv]

I know I'm double posting again, but I'm just so excited! Under the board was/is hard tan colored calcification. I'm using a scraper to get rid of it and its a very, very slow process-BUT- the mirrored bottom is shooting light all over the place! And the underside of everything is getting light! The water surface is reflected in the bottom mirror! Making rainbows in the mirror! Its just so **** cool, and exciting, I feel like a little kid, my family thinks I'm crazy walking around with a perpetual grin...oh this is gonna be great!!!!

[PaintGuru]

I'm too chicken to upll my board with my glass tank....Maybe it would be ok without it because I know it is nasty underneath my board. And even if the board is flat against the bottom, the flow can push detrius underneath it quite easily.

[Viv]

I only had about three corals and three clams, 1 fish and rock so it wasn't a big deal for me to do...I think if my tank were full it might have been a different story, this is very, very cool though, and if for some reason you feel the need to tear down your tank in the future, all is not lost without the board should you choose to go without it!

[PaintGuru]

I could actually probably pull it pretty easy, as it is cut into two pieces. I just can't imagin the detritus storm once it is lifted though . How many here are glass bottomed with no starboard? all my rock is on a milkcrate with a few pices on the bottom, but nothing that really looks like it will fall and do damage.

[Wiskey]

My 50 has no starboard, but my 15 does. I really like the look with it better than without.

Whiskey

[PaintGuru]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

My 50 has no starboard, but my 15 does. I really like the look with it better than without.

Whiskey

Again it becomes look vs. functionallity .

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by PaintGuru

Again it becomes look vs. functionallity .

Indeed, but I like the protection the board offers too

Whiskey