bare tanks

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Joey makes it very clear that he is not against planted, decorated tanks--he has had them in the past and will have them again. He simply gives a logical explanation as to why fish keepers with large fish and large tanks tend to go with bare floor tanks. Yes, there are some big planted tanks out there (like Amano's tanks), but the fish in the tanks are very small. The operative words are big tanks big fish. This should be no surprise to anyone on MFK where the welcome page states that its members have big fish, big tanks and spare no expense on their hobby. You are not going to find too many big tanks (1,000+ gallons) with big fish that have substrate. Unless you hire someone, who has the time to vacuum substrate for hours everyday? johnptc's tank is the exception, but he had his son get in the tank to clean it.

I first saw Jack Heathcoates tank on MFK. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2951

All you haters of bare floor tanks, please show me your 1000+ gallon tanks with substrate and large fish. I will try to be open minded to the possibility of covering the floor of my tank, although the thought of even vacuuming substrate in our small 300 gallon tank is more than I care to do

jack.jpg
 
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Thank to the OP who started this thread. I always used some type of gravel or sand and reading the comments and watching the video, I learned a lot about and will no doubt go bare bottom on the new tank I am planning to build.
 
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pacu mom said:
Joey makes it very clear that he is not against planted, decorated tanks--he has had them in the past and will have them again. He simply gives a logical explanation as to why fish keepers with large fish and large tanks tend to go with bare floor tanks. Yes, there are some big planted tanks out there (like Amano's tanks), but the fish in the tanks are very small. The operative words are big tanks big fish. This should be no surprise to anyone on MFK where the welcome page states that its members have big fish, big tanks and spare no expense on their hobby. You are not going to find too many big tanks (1,000+ gallons) with big fish that have substrate. Unless you hire someone, who has the time to vacuum substrate for hours everyday? johnptc's tank is the exception, but he had his son get in the tank to clean it.

I first saw Jack Heathcoates tank on MFK. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=2951

All you haters of bare floor tanks, please show me your 1000+ gallon tanks with substrate and large fish. I will try to be open minded to the possibility of covering the floor of my tank, although the thought of even vacuuming substrate in our small 300 gallon tank is more than I care to do

View attachment 1181721
Click to expand...

Problem i hope to have lol,and yes maintenance is so much easier on Bare bottom but my situation has been a tank quantity issue vs a size issue
 
I am a big fan of bare floor tanks, but after 4+ yrs in the box, we are getting ready to put this "rug" in the big tank. It is not substrate or sand, though. We are a little apprehensive that our big brutes might injure themselves on it. They would do best in a padded cell.
rug_zpst1jdxh7z.jpg
 
I was "this close" to trying a bare bottom tank once but with a few large rocks for some decor. What stopped me was fear that if I somehow dropped the rock while putting it in or while cleaning, it would hit the bottom of the tank without the "cushion" of the substrate. Has anyone ever cracked the bottom of a bare bottom tank like this???
 
Also, has anyone ever consider painting the bottom (outside - not the inside)? Something else I had considered along this line is using some of that sandy looking textured spray paint on the underside of the bottom. Wondering if that will somewhat give the appearance of a substrate???
 
Brent419 said:
I was "this close" to trying a bare bottom tank once but with a few large rocks for some decor. What stopped me was fear that if I somehow dropped the rock while putting it in or while cleaning, it would hit the bottom of the tank without the "cushion" of the substrate. Has anyone ever cracked the bottom of a bare bottom tank like this???
Click to expand...
I'd be scared to death too. Would go with a fake rock before a real rock. When your fish are really big, swimming areas are of the greatest importance... rocks and decoration are
the first to go
 
pacu mom said:
I am a big fan of bare floor tanks, but after 4+ yrs in the box, we are getting ready to put this "rug" in the big tank. It is not substrate or sand, though. We are a little apprehensive that our big brutes might injure themselves on it. They would do best in a padded cell.
rug_zpst1jdxh7z.jpg
Click to expand...
What is this "rug"? Intrigued..
 
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