Bare bottom tank owners!!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Eh I left all my tanks bare and I dont clean the algae that has accumulated throughout the months leading to a natural looking bottom that reduces nitrates. Acts like a big algae scrubber lol. Less work for me as in water changes and cleaning the sides of the wall. Its a win win haha.

edit: when i say bare I mean not painted as many people are thinking its a bare vs not bare discussion.
 
I really wish I painted the bottom of my 300. Even though, its cool to see the bottom of the rays while they eat even when I'm not hand feeding, the mirror look kinda takes away from the whole display.
For that reason only, I'll probably put in half an inch of sand soon.
Other than that, I love bare bottom tanks. So much easier to clean and the fish cant injure themselves on the gravel. This is a major plus for rays, I no longer need to worry about them cutting up their bellies.
I no longer have my canister filters and sump filled with sand.
Another plus allot of people dont consider, biological bacteria will grow all over the gravel. While this seems like a great thing, its really not. You only have a certain amount of bb in your tank and its not as efficient for some of it to be in the substrate. With a barebottom almost all of the bb is in the filter, were water will run through it the most making for a more efficient filter.
 
One thing no one has touched on, and IMO the largest drawback to bb, is the lack of surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize. I'm a long time tile or bb guy, but since adding nominal amounts of sand to all my tanks, things have never been better.
 
Sorry, festaedan festaedan I just glanced at your post. When it comes to beneficial bacteria, the more the merrier.
 
shookONES said:
Sorry, festaedan festaedan I just glanced at your post. When it comes to beneficial bacteria, the more the merrier.
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Gotcha, I always thought that was true and that made more sense to me. I saw in a uarujoey video (I believe it was this one:
) were he said that you only have a certain amount of bacteria in your tank.
Thanks
 
BB only growth to the max ammonia your fish can produce so even if you have 10x canisters running it doesn't meant all of them will fill up with BB.
 
I'm growing out Discus in bb tanks. While
I agree theres no better way to help keep the tank and water clean, I don't really don't like not having decor in the tanks. To me it's equivalent to being in jail vs being in your living room. Fish are inquisitive too. They enjoy exploring, picking, and taking cover as much as the next creature. I tried having decor in with my with my young Discus and pulled it all out bc junk would build up and settle in, on, or around it. Since Im going for the most pristine water possible, it had to go. I also saw my fish trying to swim through the bottom of my tank in the beginning, so I taped some tissue paper to the bottom side of the tank. I'm looking forward to getting my fish into there permanent home, complete with a sandy bottom and driftwood soon :)
 
FMA4ME said:
I'm growing out Discus in bb tanks. While
I agree theres no better way to help keep the tank and water clean, I don't really don't like not having decor in the tanks. To me it's equivalent to being in jail vs being in your living room. Fish are inquisitive too. They enjoy exploring, picking, and taking cover as much as the next creature. I tried having decor in with my with my young Discus and pulled it all out bc junk would build up and settle in, on, or around it. Since Im going for the most pristine water possible, it had to go. I also saw my fish trying to swim through the bottom of my tank in the beginning, so I taped some tissue paper to the bottom side of the tank. I'm looking forward to getting my fish into there permanent home, complete with a sandy bottom and driftwood soon :)
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you taped tissue paper to it o.O lol

i dont know why people waste their time painting the backs and bottom.
if its not a already blue/black back/bottom from factory i just tape black
automotive masking paper. one roll last a very long time lol you can also
use it when you have to paint something and etc for other purposes so
it comes in handy.
 
tomojsg said:
you taped tissue paper to it o.O lol

i dont know why people waste their time painting the backs and bottom.
if its not a already blue/black back/bottom from factory i just tape black
automotive masking paper. one roll last a very long time lol you can also
use it when you have to paint something and etc for other purposes so
it comes in handy.
Click to expand...

Lol, I figured I'd hear about this. But yea, it was literally at arms length when I decided I needed something under there. It was in big sheets so it worked nicely on my 4ft tank. Being thin its not overpowering, just enough to show boundary.
 
FMA4ME said:
Lol, I figured I'd hear about this. But yea, it was literally at arms length when I decided I needed something under there. It was in big sheets so it worked nicely on my 4ft tank. Being thin its not overpowering, just enough to show boundary.
Click to expand...

hahaha well at least its a cheap alternative lol
 
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