I recently converted my 135gal into a bare bottom tank. i like the look of it, except for the uneaten food and poop that would collect on the bottom. i was able to get it all to collect into one spot in the tank. it would collect right under the filter intake but not get sucked in. i wanted it to get sucked in so i wouldnt have to look at it until water changes and also didnt want to have to get powerheads to blow it around.(filter is a FX5) so what i did was simply remove the stainer from the intake tube and move the tube closer to the bottom of the tank. i lowered the tube 1inch from the bottom of the tank, and all the stuff collecting on the bottom of the tank got sucked in. now i have a very clean bare bottom tank with no junk collecting. i guess the trick to it was first getting the output postitioned just right so as to blow everything back to the middle of the tank. the fx5 has 2 outputs, so i pointed one to the front left corner and slightly down, and the other output was the opposite. i still have lots of circulation in the tank and surface aggitation as well. my fish are to big to get sucked into the tube so i didnt think it would be a problem, it also doesnt seem like the flow of the water was affected either. does anyone see any problems with this setup? this may be an easy fix for people with bare bottom tanks that have junk collecting in one or two spots in the tank. i just have to clean the filter more often now, but thats ok with me.
heres a few pics of what i did.
heres a few pics of what i did.
