Bare-bottom tanks

Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov

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Jan 2, 2005
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Is it easier to keep a bare-bottom tank clean than one w/ a gravel substrate? Since no more organic solids can build up in the gravel bed, I would assume so, right?

I'm in the process of removing the gravel from my 75g, as these are extremely messy fish who don't seem to have a preference for substrate at all.
 
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I always assumed they were much easier to keep clean, especially for messy fish. I intend to get a fry/growout tank and leave it bare bottomed. Since fry have to be fed so often and I assume there are lots of little fishy poops that would be hard to vac out with sand or gravel, not to mention fry sometimes hide in bigger bits of gravel, I just think it'd be so much easier.
 
Yeah, that was my thought on the subject - nowhere for the wastes to hide and build-up, but I might need to increase the filter maintenence, as that's where it will probably all end up. This tank in particular is a pain to vaccuum (those fish are nasty), and I already have to deal w/ ~5ppm nitrates straight from the tap, so I hope this helps some.
 
BB Seen more often in marine tanks. But yeah you got it bang on. The whole idea is there is no where for garbage to get stuck. Except corners. which you can use your vacume to clean out in about 30 sec. Every thing just floats around and goes into the filter. Get some filter floss it will make filter cleaning easier.All said and done your cleaning on the tank will be down to like 5 min a week.
 
Bare bottom is fine--but can look bad, since you'll still see the waste. I much prefer sand--the waste stays on the surface, but the bottom isn't reflective. Also, you still need to provide cover for the fish, and where these items make contact with the tank, waste will accumulate. With sand, you can fill in, so the waste just wedges up next to it rather than going underneath.
 
Good points, definately.

The buildup of debris under ornaments is something that I had not initially considered. However, the tank contains one smallish piece of driftwood on a slate-bottom, a PVC pipe, and a large piece of (plastic) artificial driftwood. The vast majority of cover is provided by a huge mat of floating plastic plants (in fact, no direct light reaches the bottom of the tank. I'll just tip the few ornaments and vacuum up whatever accumulates under them.

I wish I could paint the bottom of the tank. That's a good idea, but it's impossible in this case.

Visibly the bare bottom is rather unappealing, but I'm more concerned w/ the fish' well being than the appearance of this tank, really.
 
I've had gravel in the past and if you vac it during a water change its no big deal. I have sand now which I skim with my vac and once a month I pull my deco out and give it a good stir and then rearrange my decor again. To me a bare bottom is nice for a fry or grow out tank but that's it. When I'm displaying my fish I like a good looking bottom with a lot of decor. It's not that much trouble to maintain when compared to the looks and beauty. Bare bottom, plain jane.
 
I have been debating the issue for awhile, and have decided to go with the BB for my Discus tank, due to the required frequent water changes. My concern was have the clear bottom, being able to see through to the guts of the stand, and not wanting to completely break down the tank to paint the bottom. One suggestion I heard that I am going to use is to use colored folders and just tape them on the underside of the tank. You can slide them between the tank and stand so the bottom is completely covered, and you can easily change colors if you get bored with the one you have. You can also cover the folders with any material that you want or color them any color that you wnat.
 
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