substrate or not substrate! thats the question

[GrantA94]

Sand.

Its equally as easy to clean as bare bottom, IMO. However, it looks far better. Plus, a lot of new worlds like to sift through the sand.

No fish will keep the sand clear. Only good circulation and water changes with a sand vac (same as a gravel vac).

 

[ECW]

I like my tanks with substrate. Much more attractive and also provides more surface area for biological media. If you think about it... either way you will be running the same amount of biomedia in your filters. If you overstock your tank the surface area for bio in your filters could become maxed out. The substrate would then allow for more surface area for the good bacteria to grow. On the downside gravel vacing a tank with substrate is much more of a pain then a bare tank. But to be honest some of my tanks with gravel/sand almost NEVER get a gravel vas and everything works out great. Visually poop sitting on the surface of gravel/sand looks unsightly, but it looks just as unsightly on a bare bottom tank. Siphoning the poop out is equally as simple.

 

[DeniseC]

I like tanks that look natural and think that bare bottom looks awful. I also love a lot of plants and hate the look of little pot of plants just sitting around is not attractive either.
I love the look of sand but have never used it. I recently got a 36 gal bow front and I am going to try sand in it.