Ironworker161
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi everyone,
So, I see a lot of posts on here concerning water problems and water changes associated with that. So I'm going to make a suggestion that will help you keep your aquarium 100 times cleaner, while greatly reducing your work load and the cost of maintaining your aquarium. Over my 40+ years in this hobby I have slowly come to the conclusion that gravel substrates are the worst thing you can put in your aquarium. They do little for the biology of your tank and are basically traps for the extra food and secretions your fish make. So a few years ago I changed over all of my tanks to bare bottom and let me tell you I actually enjoy taking care of my fish again. No more constant vacuuming gravel in the exhausting effort to keep gravel clean, which as you know is an impossible task. Even if you think your doing a good job, your probably not getting all of the filth out of the gravel, which in turn is causing these poor water quality issues, high ammonia levels and sick fish. Since removing the gravel from my tanks I have not lost one fish. My tank maintenance is now about 10 percent of what it used to be. Now all I need to do is vacuum the tank floor once a week and I only change about 25% of the tank water once a month. And my readings are consistently safe. Not to mention the huge savings in my water/sewer bill. Which are a bit pricey in my area. Perhaps you've noticed that your local fish store doesn't use gravel in there tanks, and if you purchase your fish online you will notice no gravel in the photos of those fish, all because it is much healthier for the fish and less time consuming and more cost affective to maintain. As for the way a bare bottom tank looks, true it's not as pleasing as having a substrate, however I found that, that was more in my head than anything else, once I got used to it I found that it's not really a problem. You can purchase plants with a weighted bottom instead of the ones that stick in the gravel ( and don't stay there anyway). You can also place a few small stones on the bottom to give your fish something of interest. Anyway, think of doing yourself and your fish a favor, and go bare bottom.
. Have a great day guys.
So, I see a lot of posts on here concerning water problems and water changes associated with that. So I'm going to make a suggestion that will help you keep your aquarium 100 times cleaner, while greatly reducing your work load and the cost of maintaining your aquarium. Over my 40+ years in this hobby I have slowly come to the conclusion that gravel substrates are the worst thing you can put in your aquarium. They do little for the biology of your tank and are basically traps for the extra food and secretions your fish make. So a few years ago I changed over all of my tanks to bare bottom and let me tell you I actually enjoy taking care of my fish again. No more constant vacuuming gravel in the exhausting effort to keep gravel clean, which as you know is an impossible task. Even if you think your doing a good job, your probably not getting all of the filth out of the gravel, which in turn is causing these poor water quality issues, high ammonia levels and sick fish. Since removing the gravel from my tanks I have not lost one fish. My tank maintenance is now about 10 percent of what it used to be. Now all I need to do is vacuum the tank floor once a week and I only change about 25% of the tank water once a month. And my readings are consistently safe. Not to mention the huge savings in my water/sewer bill. Which are a bit pricey in my area. Perhaps you've noticed that your local fish store doesn't use gravel in there tanks, and if you purchase your fish online you will notice no gravel in the photos of those fish, all because it is much healthier for the fish and less time consuming and more cost affective to maintain. As for the way a bare bottom tank looks, true it's not as pleasing as having a substrate, however I found that, that was more in my head than anything else, once I got used to it I found that it's not really a problem. You can purchase plants with a weighted bottom instead of the ones that stick in the gravel ( and don't stay there anyway). You can also place a few small stones on the bottom to give your fish something of interest. Anyway, think of doing yourself and your fish a favor, and go bare bottom.
. Have a great day guys.
