Dude I went to a bare bottom tank on my 55 about two months ago and its so much easier to maintain. The current usually blows the crap up into the intake tubes for the mechanical filtration to take care of and the two dead spots that crap seems to build up in are taken care of weekly by the python. Imagine doing a gravel vac but 100x faster. Also as far as algae growing on the bottom I haven't had that yet but I don't have the strongest of lights and I feed once every two to three days.