Bare bottom tank slow to mature

[magikfly]

I started this 100g tank in back in April with a mix of live indo rock and dead rock and have been battling ostreopsis pretty much ever since.
UV and blackouts kills them up to the point they seem to have vanished but as soon as the lights come back on they slowly creep back.
This is frustrating. Any tips?

 

[VintageReefer]

parameters?

 

[gbroadbridge]

parameters?

^^^^^^^^ needed.

 

[Harpo]

New tank syndrome is even worse when bare bottom. You don't have enough surface area for bacteria to grow. Consider adding a sand bed that could be slowly removed or this is what I'm using

 

[magikfly]

I forgot to mention my parameters as some of you pointed out
NO3 = 10
PO4 = .1
Ca around 430
pH 8.3
For lighting I started with a blanket of 350par but have slowly lowered that to around 100; just enough to keep the photosynthetics alive while not feeding too much light to dino's
I also have a healthy pod population and do a daily dosage of Polylab's Genesis.
The only weapon I have left is scorched earth: DinoX. Really don't want to go down that route but these dinos need to clear the way for a healthier biome.

 

[exnisstech]

I've not found bare bottom tanks slow to mature. Running 3 BB currently the most recent started in late March shown below.

Not sure what the OP issue is but I seriously doubt it's caused by the BB. I helped mine along with live rock in the sump and an ATS to help with nuisance algae. So far so good. Sump of the above tank

EDIT : parameters from last sunday

 

[magikfly]

New tank syndrome is even worse when bare bottom. You don't have enough surface area for bacteria to grow. Consider adding a sand bed that could be slowly removed or this is what I'm using

I do realize the lack of a sandbed is one, if not the main reason the dinos are able to strangle the tank. But adding a sandbed at this point would just reset the entire tank and I'd have to go through a new cycle. I'm looking for a middle way here.

 

[magikfly]

I've not found bare bottom tanks slow to mature. Running 3 BB currently the most recent started in late March shown below.

Not sure what the OP issue is but I seriously doubt it's caused by the BB. I helped mine along with live rock in the sump and an ATS to help with nuisance algae. So far so good. Sump of the above tank

I can't tell how much LR you have in your sump but it sure beats the puny amount of virgin Maxspect bioblocks I have. In fact, I'm inclined to argue your startup phase was smoothed out because of that massive amount you had stockpiled in the sump.

 

[GARRIGA]

Canister/Reactor with biological media seeded with bacteria goes a long way towards providing the biological loss from going bare bottom. Bacteria don't care with structure provided on the bottom or contained within a sphere. I'm not going bare bottom but adding live rubble or sand to a canister to add bacterial diversity. Another option for quickly seeding the tank with BB. Perhaps a fluidized sand bed filter might accelerate that spread of diversity.

 

[Harpo]

I completely agree

 

[exnisstech]

I can't tell how much LR you have in your sump but it sure beats the puny amount of virgin Maxspect bioblocks I have. In fact, I'm inclined to argue your startup phase was smoothed out because of that massive amount you had stockpiled in the sump.

There is a lot and I'm sure it did help. I have another tank full of SPS frags doing very well that was started BB with just a tray of rubble. I'm just responding to the thread title stated that IME barebottom isn't slower to mature. The only thing sand ever did for me was give dinos and cyano a place to grow.

 

[magikfly]

Canister/Reactor with biological media seeded with bacteria goes a long way towards providing the biological loss from going bare bottom. Bacteria don't care with structure provided on the bottom or contained within a sphere. I'm not going bare bottom but adding live rubble or sand to a canister to add bacterial diversity. Another option for quickly seeding the tank with BB. Perhaps a fluidized sand bed filter might accelerate that spread of diversity.

this is a great idea

 

[Solo McReefer]

I've not found bare bottom tanks slow to mature. Running 3 BB currently the most recent started in late March shown below.

Not sure what the OP issue is but I seriously doubt it's caused by the BB. I helped mine along with live rock in the sump and an ATS to help with nuisance algae. So far so good. Sump of the above tank

EDIT : parameters from last sunday

You have enough live rock for two systems

I doubt the OP has a fraction of that

Which is probably the answer to his problem

Needs more live rock (I would get rid of the dead rock)

The only dead rock I will use now is coral bones. And culture it with real live rock

Sand is a latrine with bad juju in my experience

 

[schooncw]

Live rock is the key to a successful system, IMO and it seems today, that newer reefers do not heed the basics: live rock, flow, water changes. My overstocked and overfed 120 LPS bare bottom tank w copious amounts of "real" live rock does just fine.