Gravel or not?

[gomezladdams]

Gravel or sand,looks more natural than bare

 

[Tanyoberu]

I like the look of Small gravel or sand but I don't like too much of it for cleaning purposes. One year I had a major gravel removal project from all of my tanks. So do the substrate, just not too much.

 

[Burbotman]

Definetly gravel. Looks cool, promotes beneficial bacteria growth.
More natural for most fish as well.

 

[chiquita]

I like a thin layer of sand. My fish like to dig though.

 

[drewgodat]

gravel

 

[Shonky Pongo]

Gravel, it makes it look much more like a natural surrounding!

 

[ewurm]

Gravel, it makes it look much more like a natural surrounding!

I like the natural look, and gravel also harbors beneficial bacteria.

 

[awesum]

i think it depends on the size of your tank and how much time you really want to spend cleaning it.

i use to have gravel in my 240gallon but i took it all out cuz it was a pain in the ass to vaccum the whole tank. i use to spend 4 hours vaccumming that bad boy and with a bare bottom i spend 30 minutes.

as far as beneficial bacteria, should'nt there be beneficial bacteria in the water anyway? i only see gravel as having a very small percent for harboring bacteria. as long as your tank is cycled, and you have a badass filter (i have a wet/dry), i don't think you need gravel. it's just all for the looks to me.

 

[qumqats]

> . . . snip . . . <
as far as beneficial bacteria, should'nt there be beneficial bacteria in the water anyway? i only see gravel as having a very small percent for harboring bacteria.
> . . . snip . . . <

The bacteria live on surfaces, they're not floating in the water much. The more surface area you have, the more bio filtration you have. Gravel would provide a certain amount of increase in bio filtration over a bare bottom. Weither that's worth it to you or not is your decision. The reason you use bio-balls/cleaning pads in your filter is because of the large surface area they provide for bacteria to live on.

I have gravel and sand for my live plants to place their roots into and for the loaches to dig through for food.

 

[awesum]

how about lava rock? can there be benificial bacteria held in/on lava rock? how about driftwood too? since driftwood is soaked with the aquarium water doesn't that mean it also houses bacteria?