Confused! Question on bare tanks

[TankerSwife]

We've pretty much tried everything and I like them all, but I think I lean more toward the sand or bb . As someone else said its easy to suction still and it doesnt let off a cloud of crap like gravel does.

 

[Ang]

hmmm.. interesting. good hearing everyone's opinion.

Now i have to wonder, if i wanted to go bare bottom, do i just scoop out the gravel with the tank as is? Or would that be a major project?

 

[angeladay]

hmmm.. interesting. good hearing everyone's opinion.

Now i have to wonder, if i wanted to go bare bottom, do i just scoop out the gravel with the tank as is? Or would that be a major project?

Your tank is 125g? It shouldn't be too much of a problem to scoop them out. Use a heavy duty net to scoop them out.

Back during my highschool years, I used to take out the gravel and wash them during every water change. This was the time when there was no internet and had no books on fishkeeping. I always wondered why few fish died after water changes as well.

 

[rkc772]

i would say... personal preference. i had my first tank with gravel. then i went to bare bottom and now i'm going back to gravel. just to have more bioload. and maybe it would be great for my dats.

 

[vanimate]

hmmm.. interesting. good hearing everyone's opinion.

Now i have to wonder, if i wanted to go bare bottom, do i just scoop out the gravel with the tank as is? Or would that be a major project?

Oh yeah one thing I forgot to add was to paint the bottom of the tank. Black is good, check out a pic of mine:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27670

The fish will appreciate it too if they cant see through the bottom. Some fish freak out when they dont have a "ground" to reference to.
Good luck

 

[johno27]

Yup mine is painted as well
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=18601

The fish are alot more comfy with a bottom in the tank

 

[deangelo]

I have a bb tank with 3 rocks( for my lobster), my reason for this is i use live feeders as part of my fish's diet (2 silvers and a CK) and i dont want the feeders to have lots of hiding places and risk my fish damaging their snouts or wrecking shop while chasing after the feeders...plus its easier to scoop the POOP!! BIG EATERS = BIG POOPERS as u can imagine this just makes my job easier...

 

[MikeVance]

I'm a gravel bottom person also, I use an older eheim hooked to a gravel vac, works awesome & quick. My Oscar attacks it like a dog after a vacuum.

 

[Tyler]

if you just do regular cleaning on it their not a problem with gravel

 

[moxxommox]

BB look alright, but nothing looks as good as a well planted aquarium..

I had a plain 6ft tank no rocks/sand/wood nothing, this was because it a hell of a lot easier to do changes and clean up the glass, you don’t have to bother with gravel snakes and cleaning out rocks.. re-planting etc.. for large, aggressive/semi- aggressive fish I personally would suggest bb.. but for more impressive fish, black is the way to go! Black background, black sand/gravel! Looks hot!

It’s all personal if you want your fish to stand out, put nothing in there, your eyes totally focus on the fish!

Also some fish move gravel and up root plants, can hurt them selves on wood / drift wood, annihilate plants (waste of money) and if a fish gets some rocks down its gills that totally blows!

It’s up to you! What are you planning on keeping?