Bare bottom tank... Good or bad?

[Fishman88888]

Hello everyone...

I didn't get any replies to my last post, so I'm trying one more time!

My 75 gal tank:

Leopard bush fish ftw - YouTube

(4) 3" leopard ctenopomas
(3) 2-2 1/2" Denison barbs
(1) 4" leopard pleco
(2) 1 1/2" balloon pearl gouramis
(2) 3" platinum angels

Filtration: (1) hydor 450 external cannister filter, (2) aqua clear 110 hob filters
(Is that too much? Is there such a thing?)

Anyways my main question is about my new switch to bare bottom...

I've had bare bottom for about 3 weeks now.. My fish seem like they're doing good and cleaning is a breeze... I can get everything, all the waste and debris... Without any doubts of having missed places in the gravel

Will this affect the lifespan of my fish ... Would this make them stressed?
Can I do anything to my tank to improve things for everybody?

 

[20cc]

my QT tank is barebottom... it should be no problem alot of people do it.

of course some fish wouldnt be too happy with it i assume like cories who like to dig in the ground. also it isnt as aesthetically pleasing but thats just a personal opinion.
for myself i try to recreate the enviorement of the particular fishes that im gonna keep. i have south american fishes so i have sand substrate with lots of wood and plants and acidic water.

 

[Fishman88888]

Lol do they make like fake gravel ? Sorta like a background you can stick on the bottom
That would be cool...

And I don't really have bottom feeders. Lol the ctenos and my pleco clean up better than Ron burgundy

I'm considering getting fake plants... Anyone know which plants the leopard ctenos like the best? They're getting pretty territorial.

 

[20cc]

you could always paint the bottom black or use starboard.

google starboard and barebottom tanks

 

[T1KARMANN]

They do have a down side substrate holds lots of good bacteria which is how under gravel filters used to work

Substrate has a massive surface area

 

[jlk]

I would not say bare bottom is for lazy people. Some people do find the simplicity and aesthetics appealing. I have run bb tanks for intervals between deciding what I am doing next. Cleanup is a breeze, especially with messy fish. I have seen quite a few tanks before that use various backgrounds with a large center piece as the focal point and they are quite interesting.

In respect to the amount of bacteria a substrate holds, this is negligible. I have switched substrates or even removed substrates without even a mini-cycle but I also run tons of filtration.

I doubt a bb tank will have any effect on the lifespan of a fish unless they are very stressed or require substrate to dig/places to hide (ie, plants, rocks, caves). Their behavior would indicate stress. If you notice they are acting abnormally, not swimming, not eating or doing anything out of the ordinary, then I would attribute this to stress. You know your fish, so you be the judge!

 

[Rivercats]

I ran a low light planted tank that was bare bottom for a couple years. I painted the bottom black and found some really neat DW and planted it with Anubia's, Java Ferns (2 types), Bolbitus, and moss. It was a nice looking little tank. I originally set it up when I first got my 14 dime sized bodied angels since I like to feed small angels 5 small meals a day for good growth and I ended up liking the tank so much I kept it. There is nothing lazy about keeping a bare bottom tank, in fact if you don't keep up on keeping the bottom almost spotless they look really bad. I've listened to people on this forum who claim people who use UV sterilizers are lazy and all I can say is there is no reason for people being rude. Everyone has their own way of doing things, which is fine and what makes the world go round, but just because it's not the way some would do things doesn't mean they are lazy, wrong, or anything else.

 

[Cactuspixie]

I had my leopard pleco in a bb tank when he was in with my Goldy. He didn't seem to care. He now has substrate and doesn't behave any different. The reason he had to share with the Goldy was because he became insanely aggressive when in a tank with any other pleco, no matter what size or species, and all my tanks have plecos.

 

[Cactuspixie]

That tank looks great! Those bush fish are gorgeous! Love how they are so well fed they are more interested in you filming them than gobbling up the worms

 

[bshenanagins]

I know your tank is setup but I remember on my other forum a member with a bare bottom tank sprayed rustoleum or some brand paint a "stone" color and it looked great. It looked just like a sandy bottom I thought it was pretty ingenious

 

[T1KARMANN]

If you have limited time to take care of any pet perhaps you shouldn't get that pet in the first place

It takes the same time to do a gravel vac as it takes to do a water change

If you system is set up correctly with good water movement you shouldn't get much mess in the substrate anyway

My rays are so big when they poo its like a small dog pooing in the tank do I get loads of mess in my sand no why because I don't have and flat dead spots in my filtration

We try to keep fish as natural as we came BB is as far away from natural as we can get

Ciorys rays and other bottom dwellers must hate bb as it has taken them millions of years to evolve to live on substrate

 

[Cactuspixie]

BB is not in an of itself good OR bad. Whether it is suitable for a particular species is another matter.

 

[Oohitsae]

Personally, I think bare bottom tanks are just as time consuming with cleaning as sand, but gravel definitely takes more time.
Since you don't have any bottom feeders, I don't see why you would need a substrate period, I don't have any on my grow outs and 1 of my community tanks and everyone does perfectly fine. I see no difference in the fish between bare bottom - gravel - and sand.
Only thing I hate about bare bottom is that some of the debris collects under the hard scape since it gets moved around easier than with substrate, but it is definitely easy to clean, just lift your rock/plant and vacuum under it, just like you would any other tank.

And I don't believe BB is for a lazy fish keeper at all. I have 12 tanks running and decided to not put substrate in the ones that weren't display because they were easier to clean, but that doesn't make me lazy? I still clean all my tanks every 4 days and make sure I get as much waste out as possible, with a gravel vacuum for the bottom. It just makes it a bit faster to do, which I really appreciate when I have to do 50 gallons of water change each time I do one (no, I don't do all 12 in one day, I rotate so I only do a few tanks each day). All my fish get quality care, food, good clean water, and health care as needed.

 

[Fishman88888]

I'm taking everything in though... I appreciate everyone's opinion. You guys have some good points

I think the best thing I can do now is to build more rock caverns and plant a ton of anubias to give my ctenos more territories and better hunting grounds

Anyone know any nutritious fish to feed to my little monsters?

They're getting bigger and hungrier every day

 

[Rivercats]

I'm taking everything in though... I appreciate everyone's opinion. You guys have some good points

I think the best thing I can do now is to build more rock caverns and plant a ton of anubias to give my ctenos more territories and better hunting grounds

Anyone know any nutritious fish to feed to my little monsters?

They're getting bigger and hungrier every day

I like the big piece of DW you have. It's a lot like mine was. Try adding some more DW and tie a lot more plants on. I have a DW/rock structure in my 55g and I have Anubia, Java Fern (two kinds), Bolbitus, and moss growing and once they get full and begin to blend into each other it not only gives a lot of hunting and hiding ground but looks very cool and natural.

I also recently started feeding Repasy Superfoods with excellent results. They have various kinds and all my fish really seem to like it. I know it's not live fish but it must have quite a smell and they make a "meat pie" for carnivores.

 

[jlk]

Let's keep this discussion constructive and friendly everyone!

 

[Fishman88888]

Kk... You guys seem to know your stuff... Can you tell me what this is?
I'll post the link below...

What is this in my fish tank - YouTube

All the rocks and driftwood have tiny little versions of what you can see... I think they're algae growths of some sort... I'm new to fish keeping, so I honestly don't know, any insite is much appreciated.

 

[Krissycakes]

Think I will stick with my tank having substrate.

 

[severum mama]

Kk... You guys seem to know your stuff... Can you tell me what this is?
I'll post the link below...

What is this in my fish tank - YouTube

All the rocks and driftwood have tiny little versions of what you can see... I think they're algae growths of some sort... I'm new to fish keeping, so I honestly don't know, any insite is much appreciated.

Bad news... that appears to be black beard algae (BBA).

 

[T1KARMANN]

Think I will stick with my tank having substrate.

Good choice