atmmachine816

wanted to try a substrate on my tank, and now would like to just go barebottom for ease of cleaning. So here's my idea. I'm going to take all my aragonite out and put as much of it as I can in my aquaclear, test my pH levels and make sure it keeps my pH high enough, if it doesn't I'll either use a buffer (baking soda) or go back to a aragonite.

Here's what I plan to do, and do it quickly:

-Put fish in container
-Put snails in container
-Put crab in container
-Put rock with corals and corals in container with water
-Take Live Rock and put it in large trash bag and seal it.
-Drain water into bucket
-Take out substrate and put in filter
-Put Live Rock back in
-Put corals back in
-Put fish and inverts back in

Will the Live Rock be ok in the trash bag for maybe 10-15 minutes as that is all I hope this takes me? Or do I need to put it in water, if so I need to go and buy another bucket.

Your thoughts/comments?

thanks

agsansoo

Don't feel bad ... I'm in the same boat. I want to go BB (bare bottom) too ! Since the clowns are spawning now, it will have to wait. I don't want to mess up their cycle.
Just keep the surface of the rock damp. I would place the trash bag in a plastic trash can, then add a little tank water and it should be fine for 20-30 minutes.

atmmachine816

Ok, would it be ok if I put it in my bucket that I prepare the saltwater for my tank in with the water that's in it now, or would that not be good?

agsansoo

How long has the water and salt mix been in the bucket ? I still think your going to be OK. Are you worried about the good bacteria in the live rock ? It can last up to 20 min. out of the water. That's what the people at Eheim told me (because of my wet/dry filter - media changing thing).

What are you going to use on the bottom of the tank, between the glass and the live rock ?

Trpimp147

you can go to the store and buy egg crate or something

Butterfly

How about little silicone "legs" on the bottom of the rock to keep it from scratching the glass.
thats what I do in my freshwater tanks when I add rocks but don't know if it will work on live rock.
carol

Trpimp147

that too ether way something would work there are also like pure rubber floor mats for a shower or somthing with of that nature would work i would think, just depends on what you want to use and pay for.

atmmachine816

It's been mixing for a couple weeks now with a powerhead running 24/7. Ya I don't want a mini-cycle, was hard for me to find my goby and don't want to lose him.

I was just going to put the rock on the glass directly, is this bad? I have it now and I just put sand around the rock.

Butterfly and trpimp147 if I need to put something down I will, didn't know that I needed too , don't really care if it scrathes my glass anyways, I'm hoping to have coraline algae grow on it and it should hide the scratches and if it becomes unbearable it's 5 bucks for a new tank.

agsansoo

Live rock on the bottom is not bad. Just people want something in case of a rock slide ... and cracking the bottom of large tanks. A lot of BB reefers use a little sand between the rock and glass like you suggested.

atmmachine816

Hmm ok, I shouldn't have a problem with a rock slide, my tank is small enough I don't worry about it.

BB reefers?

Is it ok to put the live rock in the bucket?

agsansoo

BB reefers (Bare Bottom reef keepers) .
Yes it's OK.
So why the change? Water parameters hard to maintain ?

atmmachine816

LOL no, there easy to maintain, just want to try barebottom and see how it goes. I'm getting coraline algae on my aragonite now so I figure I might be able to on the barebottom especially since I hope to get a calcium and alkilinity test kit soon. I do find the aragonite catches more dirt and I'd rather keep the stuff moving and use filter floss if needed to keep the tank clean, don't want to lose any of my inverts and especially my goby.

agsansoo

Any updates ?

Trpimp147

i donno haha... not saying ya need to put any thing down just a suggestion it all will work for you some how.

atmmachine816

Haven't done it yet, I was waiting tiill I found out if we were moving or not so I didn't have to upset the tank twice and found out last night that we aren't moving so I'm deciding if I want to do it or not since there will be no easy way to do it, the real only way for me to do it is to take the live rock out and put it in my pre-mixed water and scoop it out since the rocks don't let me get a big syphon into it. If I do it I'll do it this weekend, I'll let you know either way.

atmmachine816

I'm thinking I'm going to just scoop out what I can each week when I do my water changes and let the rest be, eventually over time it will dissolve. I've decided not to take the tank apart though, I don't want to take any chances of losing my goby, I've become quiet attached to him and got really lucky finding him and after nursing him back to good health I really don't want to lose him.

agsansoo

That's basically what I'm doing ! Just watch for falling rocks as the sand under the rocks become unstable.

atmmachine816

I put my sand in after my rocks, so shouldn't have to worry about that