Bare Bottom Bacteria

fishy5 · Sep 9, 2014

Hey I have had 2 oscars in a 180 gallon fish tank for 3 years. About 3 months ago I moved them to a 55 gallon fish tank with a hang on the back filter. I recently did a complete water change and took all the gravel out. I got a wet dry filter and an Api filstar filter for the 55 gallon. The wet-dry filters overflow broke so I have a Powerhead at the bottom of the tank which suck up water and send it down to the filter. Lately the bottom of the tank has been getting really dirty. Since the tank has new water whites not cycled I do 25% water changes every few days. The main question is HOW DO YOU KEEP A BARE BOTTOM TANK CLEAN? :cry:

that_fish_Guy · Sep 9, 2014

Clean the glass every week that's what I do.it takes some time but I'd rather do that then gravel vac for 45 minutes every few days or even once a week for that long! I can't stand seeing waste floating around or being imbedded in gravel. My 180 is bare bottom but all my other tanks have gravel or sand. I like the idea of bare bottom but I've always had the urge to put in black and white sand in my 180 to give it a better look. It's just alot of work.

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Arthur · Sep 13, 2014

The whole point of running a bare bottom tank is so that no waste collects in the tank. So generally speaking you're trying to maintain something that eats and craps a lot.

If you are running bare bottom because you have huge fish that crap a lot, you should also have high flow in your tank to suck up that monster poo.

brich999 · Sep 13, 2014

Whats the issue? You dont have enough flow to move the poo from 2 large oscars or are you talking about algae on the bottom glass? And I did a double take but you moved 2 big cichlids to a tank a 3rd the size they were in, took out all the gravel which likely housed bb essential to nitrogen cycle and got new filters for the 55? That sounds like a recipe for disaster imo or maybe im reading it wrong

jclyde13 · Sep 14, 2014

If your problem is solid waste collecting at the bottom, then you just need more current going down there,which could be achieved by just buying more powerheads and pointing them toward the floor of the aquarium.

However, if you're having the problem that I always have, which is always having a film of algae/bacteria covering the floor of the tank, then you could try what I'm going to do. I am about to order one of these, so I can easily just scrape off the floors of my aquariums.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/23-TO-36-X-...81042009?pt=US_Hand_Tools&hash=item3f1db07059