Bare bottom tiles?

[Shishandfish]

It does sound like my better option is to use pool filter sand, I have a fine aquarium gravel in another tank but that is very expensive, that is why I used the play sand when setting this tank up. It wasnt an issue till the oscars got bigger and started kicking it up.
I think its time to look for pool filter sand.

 

[esoxlucius]

Tiles aren't my thing but if they were, the last thing i'd do is lay them down unfixed with gaps between them. Who in their right mind would want to periodically tear their tank down to lift them all up and clean out all the crud which would very quickly build up under there playing havoc with your water quality?

I'd lay them like i'd lay bathroom or kitchen tiles only instead of grout i'd spot them to the base glass with silicone and also lay a thin bead of silicon in between the tiles. It would be permanent but not that permanent that you couldn't quite easily, with a bit of elbow grease, lift them back up again at a later date.

Tiles are easy to come by in the uk. Home stores like B&Q or Do It All stock them and those stores are scattered all over the country. In the north west where i'm from we also have pilkingtons glass which also do tiles.

 

[Shishandfish]

Tiles aren't my thing but if they were, the last thing i'd do is lay them down unfixed with gaps between them. Who in their right mind would want to periodically tear their tank down to lift them all up and clean out all the crud which would very quickly build up under there playing havoc with your water quality?

I'd lay them like i'd lay bathroom or kitchen tiles only instead of grout i'd spot them to the base glass with silicone and also lay a thin bead of silicon in between the tiles. It would be permanent but not that permanent that you couldn't quite easily, with a bit of elbow grease, lift them back up again at a later date.

Tiles are easy to come by in the uk. Home stores like B&Q or Do It All stock them and those stores are scattered all over the country. In the north west where i'm from we also have pilkingtons glass which also do tiles.

I would have liked the luxury of being able to fix them down but I dont have the juggle room to move my oscars temporarily, so was kind of considering other options.
I much prefer sand but was getting bummed out with the play sand going everywhere.
I think the pool filter sand option has to be the best option for myself and the longevity of my filters.

 

[duanes]

I don't know about the UK, but I normally pay about $5 for 50 lb bags of PFS.
Here in Panama, I just collect sand from the beach, much easier and cheaper than having bags hauled over 10 miles of Pacific.

 

[krichardson]

Tiles aren't my thing but if they were, the last thing i'd do is lay them down unfixed with gaps between them.

The thing with tiles is mosst people cut them so they fit up against each other with very little gap space.Most tiled bottoms look like a one piece sheet but obviously that stuff still gets down between the seams.

 

[Shishandfish]

I think I got the idea of the tiles from alot of people who do it or show a video on how its done, but they dont explain that crud would get under them, I was going to lay them snug if I had done it that way, but on peoples advice im more happy with sand as the fish seem to enjoy digging about.
I just didnt realise you could get different grades of sand (I am dumb lol)
Up until recently my only sorce of information is a quite outdated aquarium book that said play sand was a good option.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Could you rig up something like raise the tiles off the bottom a little and have a powerhead blowing under them to flush out any debris?
You might have to make sure the tiles fit tightly enough together so the flow goes all the way under them and out the other side rather than just the first few.
And you'll want a filter on the powerhead intake.

And...Now that I've typed that out, it sounds like a pain in the butt.

You know how when you order a pizza theres a little thingy that sticks up to prevent the box from being able to crush the pizza? Well, could that work?

 

[the big kahuna]

Reviving an old thread here. So I have a 300 gallon 96x24x30 and once had 16 12"x12" black beauty tiles from Home Depot lining the bottom which looked very nice imo. For about 6-8 months I didn't even consider the thought of muck settling underneath. One day I noticed a change in my parameters and couldn't figure out why. Finally lifted the tile and it was chaos under there. Grabbed my gravel vac turned off the powerheads and went to cleaning the bottom. When I was done I decided to take the 16 tiles out and just do bare bottom which I'm not a fan of at all. Water parameters became stable again so I stuck with bare bottom because even though I like the like of play sand, my personal preference is a black bottom and background to make my fish colors pop. Fast forward to this week, I found on wayfair.com that they have 24"x24" black tile thats also waterproof which means I would only need 4 tiles to achieve the same look and there would be less tile lines involved for debris to fall into. I may order these soon with the 4 tiles costing only $49.00. Then I thought maybe I can buy a toilet plunger just for the tank and every 4-6 weeks just move the 4 tiles with and clean underneath. I will include the link to the wayfair site in case the OP or anyone may want to consider this option.

Wayfair.com - Online Home Store for Furniture, Decor, Outdoors & More | Wayfair

Shop Wayfair for A Zillion Things Home across all styles and budgets. 5,000 brands of furniture, lighting, cookware, and more. Free Shipping on most items.

www.wayfair.com

 

[kingthedog]

if you want an expensive bottom you could use luxury vinyl tile

 

[Shishandfish]

Thanks for that, I actually ended up using slate placemats to do the job, I set them with a small amount of sand and it stops the crud falling between them, water quality seems to stay stable.