is it better to have no gravel?

[rallysman]

barebottom tanks are boring IMO.
Its much more pleasing for me to look at a well decorated tank.

 

[Stang1]

Its been said here and I agree that aquascaping is an art form

 

[crazy_davis1988]

if you give the substrate a weekly vacuuming it will be fine.... but if you prefer the look with no substrate thn by all mean give 'er

 

[Honda12]

I think you should have some kind of substrate. Even if it is a thin layer.

 

[FishHeadSoup]

bare bottom looks so un-natural to me....

 

[FishHeadSoup]

I think you should have some kind of substrate. Even if it is a thin layer.

YES! also adds more surface area for good bacteria!

 

[wolfnnc]

Get rid of the active carbon...thats most likely the cause and not the gravel

 

[Fry]

if you decide to go bare, make sure you have great filtration and filter volume for beneficial bacteria since you're missing a lot of it that would be in the gravel, i would add a fluidized bed filter or use a big wet/dry

 

[SphericalCube]

I have to agree with everyone here, I'd rather have the **** trapped in the gravel than floating around the tank getting stirred up every time they change direction. It has a much more aesthetic effect and I like to keep plants, so I put gravel in every tank.

 

[Daniel Machado]

I like to have substrate in my tanks... Don't like bare-bottom tanks. My fish like it too.

Best regards.

Daniel.