I HAVE A QUESTION???

[MidasMan]

why do alot of u guys not have any gravel in with your fish? is it really needed if you have enough filtration?

[R1_Ridah]

It's all personal preference I think. Gravel is primarly for looks and gives the tank that certain Biotope look. I use to have gravel in my tanks and now I'm into sand but thinking about going commando with my 600 gallon.

I just like the whole Japanese bare bottom MONSTER TANK look. However it's only certain species that can achieve the look.

Not to mention bare bottom is easier to clean =-)

[iheartfishies]

Kyle!
I've told you that before!:)

beh heh heh.

[redtailfool]

Its not necessary to have gravel at all. But if youre the type that goes for the "natural" or Biotope look, then you have to have subrate in your tank.

But its not necessary at all. The beneficial bacteria mostly resides in your filter media.

I have some tanks with black sand and some with gravel. But my ray tank is bare bottom with pieces of wood and slate . Easier to clean that way and the attention is on the animal and not the tank.

Whatever floats your boat !

[ezman]

i will say its easier for maintainance...........partly is also dued to the type of food we are feeding our fishes (like MP)......there are bits & pcs left over after each feeding.....once they are trapped in-between the gravels, then alot of problems will araise after that..........

[trogdor1980]

Makes it so much easier to clean!

[trogdor1980]

But of course dirt shows up more!

[BigMOCats]

Makes it look so much more natural. Bare tanks look like you're keeping your fish in a mason jar. Just one big betta bowl.

Scott

[rollerboy244]

it's funny i used to be more into herps and i thought that aquarium keeping was more advanced.Now the trend in herping is away from the easy newsprint linning for snakes and lizards to self cleaning bio substrate and naturalistic displays--the trend like zoos are doing going away from concrete barred cages.
But i can see why people would go to bare aquarium bottoms considering the maintenance of such large aquariums some of you have.If i didn't have such heavy filtration and good gravel vacuuming habits on my 180 gallon-it would be in rough shape-i feed my 30 small fish(av 2-3 inches) in that tank lightly with very high quality food and it's amazing how much waste accumulates in the gravel

[rayman45]

well i like bare alot better
i do have graavel in my 4 of my tanks b/c
my sh tank- he get itchy and rubs his head on the graqvel, when it was bare he would bugg out
my 30g- its a show tank
my 55 gator tank- b/c i made that a natural tank
any my snapping turtles tub- but just a little bit, like 1.5 lbs

[julnj2]

It depends on you, but bare is so easy to clean.

[limz_777]

well big gravel stones and a under gravel filter works for me, maintainin it is easy as all the waste goes into the UGF, getin a clean bottom look every time.

[CentralMayhem]

I like to clean my tanks, therefore i dont mind the extra effort involved in keeping a tank with gravel clean. Bare bottom would of course be easier, but im in it for the enjoyment of the hobby and my preference is in aquascaped brightly lit tanks. bare bottom might be cool if i had some REAL monsters, but until then i will go with some substrate. Its all about personal preference, just like our cars and music.

[Exoticfish]

i will say its easier for maintainance...........partly is also dued to the type of food we are feeding our fishes (like MP)......there are bits & pcs left over after each feeding.....once they are trapped in-between the gravels, then alot of problems will araise after that..........



I agree with Ezman.