AttackFish;2800633; said:
I have been running bb tanks for the past five years and my water chemistry is perfect. However, admittedly, performing water changes is a form of religion with me. Of course, you will have to provide a sufficient amount of substrate in your filter for the bacteria to colonize. If you decide to convert, I would suggest that you eliminate carbon, etc., from your filter and devote as much volume as possible to biofilter media. This should be preceded with mechanical media (pads and sponges). It's true that beneficial bacteria will colonize the gravel bed and no doubt, they are oxidizing ammonia and nitrite. However, if you consider the amount of filth that accumulates in the gravel bed and how this is likely to adversely effect your water chemistry, my personal view is that it's preferable to go with a bare bottom. Also, since water circulation and oxygenation of the gravel bed are minimal, I doubt that these bacteria are fully metabolically active. Finally, the bacterial populations in the filter and gravel bed are competing for ammonia, nitrite and carbon. If you eliminate the gravel bed population, I would guess that you would see a compensatory upswing in the growth and metabolic activity in the bacteria populating the filter.
