substrate as a bio media

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Well my tanks that I'm basically observing this on right now will all be on a super sump in a months time, 750 gallons of aquarium on a 265 gallon sump running between 3,000 and 5,000 gph with an auto water change system. It has 8 filter socks and 4 chambers for biomedia and space to expand and add bio towers if I think the flow is exceeding the capacity of the existing bio media. Will be a mix of scrubbies, ceramic rings and seachem pond matrix with air stones under the up-flowing chambers. By my calculations the sump can expand to support almost 2,000 gallons of aquarium, though I doubt I'll ever exceed 1,500.
 
I'm not a fan of barebottom tanks because it doesn't look natural, but to each is own. As for filtration, I've never considered or rely on my gravel to be part of my filtration but instead made sure the filtration is large enough to handle the aquarium. I use sand and as for it making a mess, I have Fronts, Plecos, and catfish...alot of bottom dwellers and I dont seem to have that problem. The sand is finer then poop so the poop stays on top of the sand where it can be easily siphoned out like if it were to sit on top of a bare bottom tank. The sand is heavy enough where if it gets kicked up it goes right back down. Also the sand gets cleaned because it gets shifted around alot by my bottom dwellers...
 
I think the problem is that if you have to rely on your substrate as an extra source of BB or else the water conditions worsen, it means you don't have enough BB in your filters and need more filtration/bio media. The filters should support the bioload of the tank all by themselves without relying on things inside the tank. That's why people with bare bottom tanks are often able to make their fish grow faster -- there's enough BB in the filters and better/cleaner water conditions in the tank than with a gravel bed. There will be much more BB growing in your filter's bio media than on the gravel anyway because the filter bio media is exposed to much more oxygen than the gravel is.
 
I have to agree with tiger. Granted i am not running any monster tanks like alot of you, but i do have several including my 75 gallon at the moment. I have sand in all my tanks except my 75 which has a thin layer of gravel and it is soon to be switched to sand. I have had the same experiences with sand as Tiger...sand if finer grade than the waste, so the waste stays on top to be siphoned (or in some of my tanks, taken care of by shrimp lol).
I also have to agree with asm.. If you have to rely on your substrate for bio, then you most likely dont have enough external bio filtration.
I have ran a couple tanks with no substrate before and i didnt like it at all but i noticed no difference in water quality. In my opinion it looks horrible and my fish were constantly trying to swim through the bottom, and as a result were showing signs of stress, so I probably wont do it again personally, but obviously it works for some.
 
I think its funny that you guys say bare bottom isn't a problem if you have proper filtration:nilly:... that is what this is all about,:ROFL: lol. Basically adequate filtration by testing water parameters seems to be about double. I have more tank, more filtration, less fish and more ammonia with bare bottom. Just saying, the fact I need more filtration for identical water parameters, nothing more, nothing less.

Yeah you can over filter anything but that isn't the point of this thread. ;).
 
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