Are bare bottom tanks easier?

[aquamist666]

I used to have an aquarium many years ago but now I’m interested in having a fish room. The main reason I gave up on the aquarium before was the need for vacuuming the gravel and excessive algae growth.

If I go with bare bottom tanks will it be easier for me? Or will it still be a chore to do maintenance? Since there is no gravel will the poop and leftover food be sucked into the filter?

 

[86 ssinit]

Yes the debris goes right into the filter. But that doesn’t mean less cleaning. Now the filters are getting dirtier faster. So they do need to be cleaned. It’s less work than having gravel and the tank is cleaner. But in the end it’s a box ful of water with fish in it. It still needs to be cleaned weekly. Aquariums need cleaning! If maintenance worries you they probably aren’t for you.

 

[SparkyJones]

it's more or less the same, maybe even more work, anything that doesn't go to the filter will sit on the bottom becoming an eyesore you will be bothered by and want to clean up. So filter is pretty important that it's capable of getting everything. it's Easier to vacuum than a tank with substrate though, but it hides nothing like substrate hides stuff good.

Think of the bare bottom of the tank like a window, you notice dirt easily on a window. You don't notice dirt in dirt. I like bare bottom with easily removable objects, I want to clean it more often because doing it isn't hard like with gravel, with gravel, it's a matter of when, not if I wait too long and the gravel gets sucked up and blocks the vacuum and I have to fiddle with it to get it clear again.

I dunno, I guess start bare bottom, if you don't like it, add substrate. easier to add it in than to take it back out.

 

[briangcc1997]

I did a 10 gallon tank bare bottom...once...and that was enough. Absolutely gross and that was just housing angelfish fry. For me, to get all the "stuff" off the bottom of the tank, I would have had to empty it and rinse in the sink then refill. Siphon along wouldn't have done it....at least not by time the tank was empty.

Big old NOPE here for doing it again.

I do bi-weekly water changes with a siphon. Then again, my tanks are fairly large and definitely over filtered. Live plants can help stretch/buffer your maintenance window but I find with my tanks about 2-3 weeks is the upper limit before bad things start happening. With (11) tanks, I split the work into a couple days so I'm not overwhelmed. I've found that without additional help, this is my limit of tanks to maintain....not that I don't have yet another 10 gallon sitting empty in the basement OR a 54 gallon tote we started our pond adventure with (was upgraded to 110 gallon).

 

[BlackOsprey]

Kind of? It depends on what you're ok with. It's easier to completely remove all debris during a water change with bare-bottom. However, it will show everything until you remove it.

If gravel vacs and algae were your problem, I'd recommend planted tanks instead. Vacuuming becomes unnecessary when plants are there to feed on the mulm and excess nutrients.

 

[tinylostwine]

It is a trade off and there are arguments for both sides of the fence. However it is a lot easier to vacuum up uneaten food on a bare bottom aquarium then one with substrate and uneaten food is probably the #1 contributor to poor water quality; having said that if you never over feed then there probably are more negatives after all a dynamic plant life and substrate helps quite a bit with water quality and biological filtration. Fish waste itself isnt' that bad though if i suppose of the aquarium is heavily stocked it can create some issues over time.

My simple answer is don't over feed and life is good with or without substrate; over feed and go bare bottom.

 

[SparkyJones]

It is a trade off and there are arguments for both sides of the fence. However it is a lot easier to vacuum up uneaten food on a bare bottom aquarium then one with substrate and uneaten food is probably the #1 contributor to poor water quality; having said that if you never over feed then there probably are more negatives after all a dynamic plant life and substrate helps quite a bit with water quality and biological filtration. Fish waste itself isnt' that bad though if i suppose of the aquarium is heavily stocked it can create some issues over time.

My simple answer is don't over feed and life is good with or without substrate; over feed and go bare bottom.

Yes. but don't overfeed and wait two or more days to clean up the bare bottom, it becomes a mushy film and harder to remove. In a bare bottom it becomes a daily cleaning chore, and youll want to because it looks bad if you don't. So if you aren't a daily cleaner, bare bottom probably isn't for you. If you have fish that require pristine conditions and daily water changes, might as well do bare bottom or potted plants that can be easily removed to clean and keep it easy since you're doing it daily anyways.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

They always look dirty, but it also makes it easy to suck up the good bits with a little water for the plants. My Endler colony tanks (10g) are mostly bare bottom to make it easier to pull out hiding spots to remove unwanted fish easier. It's more "clinical" for efficiency as it's more of a production facility than a show room. The aquariums in the living room and kitchen are all planted as are the top tanks in the breeding rack for initial pairings and breeding (5 gallons).

Maintenance wise there's little difference. Algae scraping is algae scraping lol With the bare bottom tanks I just do more frequent but much smaller water changes compared to doing a gravel vac water change mainly due to my OCD seeing debris on the glass lol

 

[TClare]

I always use a sand substrate, even for fry tanks. The easiest tanks to maintain are those that are densely planted, the substrate does not need much cleaning and waste is food for the plants. I also plant temporary fry tanks. The non-planted tanks are a bit harder to clean and do require more siphoning of stuff from the bottom, but I don’t see this as being any harder than doing it a bare bottomed tank. Bear in mind that some fish do really need to have a substrate to dig or sift through. And I just prefer the natural look…

 

[bgarthe]

I use both coarse sand and fine gravel about 3/4” or so deep. This works great for me bc the shallow substrate hides the stuff that would show up w a bare bottom. And then I do my WCs w gravel/sand vacuuming each time which is easy bc it’s so shallow. Yes….you'll have to learn how to set up your siphon so as to not suck up gravel, but to suck up detritus etc. btw….my two always running QT tanks are bare bottom. It really comes down to personal preference for the reasons already listed by others.