I like bare tanks, even though mine isn't I think it puts more of the focus on the fish instead of the tank. Sometimes I think it just looks better.
bare tanks
- Thread starter esoxlucius
- Start date
I'm a fan of joeys, i think the guys ace, his all round knowledge and expertise of our hobby knows no bounds. Maybe the ray comment was a bit insensitive but i was only having a bit of light hearted banter.
I thought it was a good video, I don't keep bare tanks but understand why people do. The comment you made about his rays was IMO, an ignorant remark. Anyone who's been in the hobby for any amount of time have had equipment failures, myself included. I don't know who this guy joey is but I can appreciate his effort to educate and promote the hobby. My .02
Until I started keeping discus, I too didn't care for bare bottom at all. During my time growing out discus I witnessed the shear magnitude of waste they create. At the same time I had a 55g planted tank and I was literally afraid of what was beneath the substrate since I rarely gravel vacuumed it.
Too me, that was enough to make the switch. My Dovii tank on Sundays reads around 5-10ppm nitrate. I attribute it to clearing waste and uneaten food out daily. Substrate would make that a challenge.
Too me, that was enough to make the switch. My Dovii tank on Sundays reads around 5-10ppm nitrate. I attribute it to clearing waste and uneaten food out daily. Substrate would make that a challenge.
Beyond looks, and perceived easy clean up, I'm surprised no-one has pointed out something obvious.
I have had both, and feel if understocked, and if filtration is 4 or 5 times more than usually recommended, bare bottom can work well.
But any substrate, and or logs, etc are areas that are colonized by beneficial bacteria, whereas the area on only 4 walls, can be quite paultry if the tank is even slightly overstocked, and can easily crash if something minor were to happen that upsets the balance.
If the tank has a sump with tons of biomedia, and over filtration, again, no problem. But if the tank has1 little canister, or a couple HOB s, to me the chance of putting stock on the edge due to any slight chemical imbalance, un-noticed dead fish if not seen even over night, etc etc.
I have had both, and feel if understocked, and if filtration is 4 or 5 times more than usually recommended, bare bottom can work well.
But any substrate, and or logs, etc are areas that are colonized by beneficial bacteria, whereas the area on only 4 walls, can be quite paultry if the tank is even slightly overstocked, and can easily crash if something minor were to happen that upsets the balance.
If the tank has a sump with tons of biomedia, and over filtration, again, no problem. But if the tank has1 little canister, or a couple HOB s, to me the chance of putting stock on the edge due to any slight chemical imbalance, un-noticed dead fish if not seen even over night, etc etc.
I think that's a whole other debate on whether or not the bacteria found in substrate is actually notable.
Myself I run both types of tanks. My usual preference is a bare bottom tank for growouts or new fish. This way I can better monitor them.
I run my main display tank as more of a natural tank. Deep sand bed, planted, with additional terrestrial plants for additional nitrate reduction. I started going this route after seeing how the majority of the channa keepers house their stock.
As I'm getting back into stingrays I'll have to adjust some of the setups. A fully planted tank won't work with them. Didn't really like sand when I tried it with the rays. I'm considering a slightly larger grain size. Currently thinking of ways to try and incorporate leaf litter into the setup without clogging pumps to try and make a more natural setup.
I run my main display tank as more of a natural tank. Deep sand bed, planted, with additional terrestrial plants for additional nitrate reduction. I started going this route after seeing how the majority of the channa keepers house their stock.
As I'm getting back into stingrays I'll have to adjust some of the setups. A fully planted tank won't work with them. Didn't really like sand when I tried it with the rays. I'm considering a slightly larger grain size. Currently thinking of ways to try and incorporate leaf litter into the setup without clogging pumps to try and make a more natural setup.
I'm kind of with Joey. I never liked the look of bare bottom tanks at first, but I think if done right, it doesn't look bad. And I'll be honest, most people who I've seen with bare bottom tanks, don't really maintain it as nice as Joey's. I didn't notice any detritus floating around or any green or brown algae build up like I see most bare bottom tanks.
Not cool or funny. ...... I, like many, have cooked a lot of fish through the years due to crappy heaters. Quality seems to be better than it used to be.
Bare bottom vs substrate is a long running debate. Interestingly seems to be a bigger debate among the reef crowd which is kind of funny since they have so little other substrate for biological filtration and mostly rely on the live rock. I've typically run about half and half of my tanks between the 2. If the fish like to dig I'll usually put it in and on my display tanks. No doubt it is much easier to have cleaner tanks with bare bottom but agree with the comment about ensuring you are adequately filtered.
