I have a 75 gallon tank for my male Midevil cichlid I planning to make it bare bottom for easy cleaning of its big chunk of poops or should I stick with my sand setup? since he loves to dig.
bare bottom or substrate tank set up
- Thread starter Rakeboy
- Start date
I would leave it.
My Saggitae absolutely loved his sand.
When he got to big I stopped the making him a "rock fortress". At that point he just had the whole area behind the big flat red rock dug out.
So long as you left his main pit alone he wouldn't dig secondary pits. But mess with his main pit and it's WAR!
My Saggitae absolutely loved his sand.
When he got to big I stopped the making him a "rock fortress". At that point he just had the whole area behind the big flat red rock dug out.
So long as you left his main pit alone he wouldn't dig secondary pits. But mess with his main pit and it's WAR!
Nc fish, how many gallon is your tank?
Then I would leave the sand in. Btw how deep is your sand in your setup?
Then I would leave the sand in. Btw how deep is your sand in your setup?
Tank is a 6ft 125gal. I had 120 pounds of sand in it. If totally flat it's just slightly more than an inch of sand depth.
You would be surprised just what these fish can do.
Here he is at just 4/5in, his mate 2.5/3in. And they could still clear out all the gravel.
If you have big rocks in your tank make sure they are placed on the bottom, not on the sand. They can dig it out and cause the rock to move possibly causing a stack to fall over.
You would be surprised just what these fish can do.
Here he is at just 4/5in, his mate 2.5/3in. And they could still clear out all the gravel.
If you have big rocks in your tank make sure they are placed on the bottom, not on the sand. They can dig it out and cause the rock to move possibly causing a stack to fall over.
Tip on cleaning sand tanks.
Swirl your gravel vac in circles a couple inches above the sand. The detritus will swirl into neat little piles you can get without sucking up sand.
Swirl your gravel vac in circles a couple inches above the sand. The detritus will swirl into neat little piles you can get without sucking up sand.
just my opinion. but i find bare bottom tanks lazy looking. i understand the benifits for certain stocking. but for the most part it just looks cheap.
One of the unforeseen problems that occur in bare bottom tanks, is that a large proportion of your beneficial bacteria will only be sequestered in you filter(s), and if power goes out for any length of time, or....your filter bites the dust, or even simply becomes plugged,
the tanks bio activity may be curtailed enough to become problematic.
In a tank with substrate, ....that substrate is home to a large proportion of beneficial activity, and may buy you a little leeway until you can get the problem is rectified.
the tanks bio activity may be curtailed enough to become problematic.
In a tank with substrate, ....that substrate is home to a large proportion of beneficial activity, and may buy you a little leeway until you can get the problem is rectified.
The next best thing to giving a cichlid no substrate is to deprive it of food and water.