bare bottom benefits???

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
i was gonna do a few big rocks and a big planded sword. i friggin still cant make up my mind!
 
i did it. my tank is dirty as hell, and the water looks horrible. i hope my fishes are ok!!!!

i HAD to do it!!!!
 
Howdy,

I don't really think that bare-bottoms are the nicest thing to do to your fish. After all, it's not considered nice to keep dogs in bare concrete rooms. A few pots with plants and rocks are nice, but I don't really see the problem you have with gravel. Maybe your gravel size was not optimal, maybe you dont have any Malaysian Trumpet Snails (Melanoides Tuberculata) in your tank. Don't worry, they won't bother you, you'll never see them, they live in the gravel/sand. They keep the substrate free of organic matter, and they aerate it doing so. No tank should be without them! Just introduve a few, and make sure to remove the big chunks of dirt from your gravel regularly. The snails will do the rest. I have sand, and I don't even have to vacuum. My filter & snails clean the tank for me.

HarleyK
 
for sure. Malaysian trumpet snails are cool like things. I've got some right now in my 350 and I'm looking to get more. Great addition to any tank. :D
 
DONE!!!! looks good, not great but at least the tank is squeaky clean. i put a thin layer of gravel just enuf to cover the bottom and a few big cool rocks and a few big swords and some caves to hide in.
 
eee idk about bare bottom ive always liked a rather deep bed of finer grade gravel because of the anaerobic and aerobic bacteria in there. i have had good results with that.....and idk about you guys, but when ever ive had a bare bottom tank setup, it quickly turns to a white cloud because theres no where for the bacteria to go. sure it would grow in the filter but if all u have is a power filter, when u change it your back to a new tank pretty much and a wet-dry is a nitrate factory so youll have to change your water very often to keep you NO3 in resonable levels
 
Bare bottom looks plain and ugly in my opinion.

You mention you have a lot of detriitus.......how about adding a few extra powerheads? That way your powerheads would be blowing all the detritus around giving your filters time to get it or for it to go into a sump.

You could also do this.....get a powerhead and a plastic milk jug (those 1 gallon ones). Put some socks or some kind of cloth in the jug. Have a small hose on the bottom on the milk jug go iinto the tank. So then you use a turkey baster and blast all that detritus up, then use the powerhead to suck up all the dirty stuff, it will go into the milk jug and get collected on to the cloths, and then all the clean water will go back into the tank via the tube on the bottom of the milk jug. Or if you have a sump, have the water from the milk jug go into the sump and your sump powerhead will bring it back to your main tank. No having to add extra water because you took out a few gallons using the vacumn.

Works great and I recommend it!
 
messiner said:
i am thinking of taking all/most of the gravel out of my 90. i think that because i have a good 3-4in of gravel it is trapping alot of crap and causing my ph and amonia to go up. is this a good idea? alternatives?
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If your gonna go with a bare bottom tank, it would be best to use at least two sponge filters to house bacteria.

My opinion
 
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