The best fish to "kick up" debris from bare botom tanks

[Matt68005]

Hi i raise guppies and have alot of tens and 20 gallon long tanks. In the past i used spoonge filters and pea gravel/sand mixture, but i just want to go Bare Bottom to keep it clean and disease free. It seems i have problems with "too much" benifical bacteria and my guppies feed alot and thus poo alot. I was wondering, since im switching from Spoonge to Corner Box filters (which actually suck up debrix from the tank), what kind of fish should i get to "kick up" the debris? I know cories are GREAT at that, but they just don't seem happy in a bare tank. Would an otto work? Cories would be fine as long as i give them a place to hide like a clay pot right? i have seen it before, of course my guppies are the primary concern, i just don't want the cories to be unhappy either.

 

[RadMax8]

I doubt the cories would be happy in a bare bottom tank, especially one covered in poop. For one, they like to forage in the substrate. Also, constantly sifting through poop might give them an infection in their barbels. I didn't vacuum my gravel for a very long time and my cories lost their barbels.

You could get rid of the debris by vacuuming the area when you do a water change. It should all come out super easy.


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[t4runnr]

Or maybe run a small power power head in the tanks to circulate the water.


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[Brookster123]

Or maybe run a small power power head in the tanks to circulate the water.


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+1

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[PB_Smith]

air stones/wands strategically placed on the bottom would work as well and if you have a large enough pump or compressor, you could do all the tanks from one air source.

 

[Matt68005]

Ya i agree but i suction the bottom and the next day the mulm has returned in full force, seems like i got too much beneficial bacteria. Im hoping that the corner box filters will pick it up and that my guppies will just forage and knock it around so the filter can pick it up. I really don't like a bunch of gadjets running all at once, im in an apartment and already short on plugins. Thx for the advice.

 

[Luananeko]

Ya i agree but i suction the bottom and the next day the mulm has returned in full force, seems like i got too much beneficial bacteria. Im hoping that the corner box filters will pick it up and that my guppies will just forage and knock it around so the filter can pick it up. I really don't like a bunch of gadjets running all at once, im in an apartment and already short on plugins. Thx for the advice.

It sounds like you're either overfeeding or overstocking if you're seeing that much mulm. If you address that then it should be much more manageable. Next time you feed, take a look at the tank about 5 minutes after you give them the food. How much is leftover on the bottom of the tank? Reduce how much your feeding by that much. You'll have less mulm on the bottom, your guppies will poop less, and the guppies will be longer lived. Win-win-win

 

[MICEY]

suck it out with water changes , a brisslenose would work and not eat the guppies