Bare Bottom Tank

[Byron]

I was wondering the same thing. Lol. I was originally planning on a discus tank, and there was no question I would do bare bottom, but what I did was paint the underside of my tank with a textured spray paint, filled in with a solid flat, to do away woth the APPEARANCE of a bare bottom. Turned out great. Looks like beach sand. After reading some of the posts on here, I'm comfortable with doing it with rainbows, but wanted to share my solution for an ugly, glass bottom aquarium. Good luck. BTW, I'm looking at setting up a 54 gal corner tank for mine.

This is an old thread from 2009, before I joined TFF. As you have raised the issue now, I would like to comment.

Bare bottom tanks minus any form of substrate is not a good idea. While breeding tanks and fry tanks can work with this, they are very different things from an aquarium intended as a permanent biological housing for a community of fish. The substrate is the most important internal aspect of the aquarium, as it hosts the largest colony of bacteria of several species (far beyond the nitrifying bacteria), much more important than the filter.

As for cleaning, I would not consider bare bottom easy by any stretch of the imagination, but again this works for spawning and fry tanks which might well have daily water changes. With a substrate of suitable matter, such as sand or fine gravel, the various species of bacteria have plenty of surface are to colonize, providing a much healthier water quality. The biological system will be stable, if things are in balance.

There is also the issue of stress on the fish with no substrate, though I acknowledge that your idea of painting the outside of the glass dark can help with this aspect. The inside glass will still have some reflection however, and this is not good for fish.

Byron.

 

[Tigginjenn]

I didn't pay attention to the date of the original thread. Sorry. I was just trying to find out about bare bottoms. When I was looking into doing discus, this seemed to be the preference, because of them needing such pristine water conditions, which is why I have ultimately opted for something else. I like the idea of a nice sand, but I have 54 gal of water sitting here that I would now have to add a substrate to, unless I want to empty. I just gpt.my water where I want it, soooo.. I still have a fishless tank, cycling for the moment though. Thank you for your input. I'm looking for any info I can get.

 

[Byron]

I didn't pay attention to the date of the original thread. Sorry. I was just trying to find out about bare bottoms. When I was looking into doing discus, this seemed to be the preference, because of them needing such pristine water conditions, which is why I have ultimately opted for something else. I like the idea of a nice sand, but I have 54 gal of water sitting here that I would now have to add a substrate to, unless I want to empty. I just gpt.my water where I want it, soooo.. I still have a fishless tank, cycling for the moment though. Thank you for your input. I'm looking for any info I can get.

You could post a new thread on this [I will respond the same, lol].

"Pristine water conditions" need a substrate, to provide the necessary bed for the many species of bacteria that keep the water in that condition. Of course, if rainbowfish are the plan, you may want substrate fish like loaches, and the lack of a substrate would be cruel and stressful to the fish as well as contributing to poorer water conditions.

You could add a substrate to the tank with water; it would obviously cloud up a bit, but that would settle out and if you are "cycling" that is not a problem.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'm with Byron with some rare exceptions as he mentioned. I have a 10g quarantine/grow out tank in the basement that has the bottom and back painted black, but is bare bottom. It has a Hamburg Matten filter.
But I feel that any display tank needs a natural appearance and if/when planted, a substrate is especially crucial for rooted plants. Not to mention the beneficial biology that lives down under working 24/7 to aid in more pure water. It also follows that sand (or perhaps very fine gravel) is the absolute best substrate. This is because typical aquarium gravel too easily allows uneaten food and detritus to get under through nooks 'n crannies and decay, requiring constant vacuuming lest it becomes a 'nitrate factory'. With sand, nearly everything stays on top. Now when it comes to sand, silica (pool filter) or play sand is the best as you don't want too fine a sand grain that will pack tightly.

 

[Hardrada]

My tank is half bare bottom and half leaf litter. I am tempted to try out sand substrate. But I read somewhere that sand or any other fine substrate poses a risk to bettas, who might try to swallow it thinking it's food, and choke on it. This was apparently experienced by someone on another forum. So I have hesitated to take the plunge. My betta is very curious and tries to snatch the sinking pellets I drop in for the cory cats. So I worry he really will swallow sand by mistake.

Any betta owners here who can weigh in on the subject?

 

[Byron]

My tank is half bare bottom and half leaf litter. I am tempted to try out sand substrate. But I read somewhere that sand or any other fine substrate poses a risk to bettas, who might try to swallow it thinking it's food, and choke on it. This was apparently experienced by someone on another forum. So I have hesitated to take the plunge. My betta is very curious and tries to snatch the sinking pellets I drop in for the cory cats. So I worry he really will swallow sand by mistake.

Any betta owners here who can weigh in on the subject?

I would think that sand would pass through and not get stuck in the fish's throat, but I will leave that for a Betta owner to comment. As most people have a substrate in their Betta tank I doubt this is a real issue.

It is an issue for your cories, however. Aside from cories expecting to sift sand through their mouths and gills as they feed, a bare bottom again poses health risks especially for fish that live down there. The leaves are fine, and a good idea, but a thin layer of sand maybe half an inch (1 cm) deep wold be advisable. Leaves on top of the sand, also good. I have dried leaves in some of my tanks, replaced as they decompose.

 

[Hardrada]

Thanks Byron.

Can you explain a bit more why the bare bottom poses health risks? I do try to scrub the tank floor using filter wool at weekly water changes, which I was thinking would help keep the floor clean...

 

[Byron]

Thanks Byron.

Can you explain a bit more why the bare bottom poses health risks? I do try to scrub the tank floor using filter wool at weekly water changes, which I was thinking would help keep the floor clean...

Certainly. In my earlier posts #16 and #18 I set out some of the bacterial issues. When detritus is allowed tojust fall and sit on a bare substrate, it is more "dirty" than if it gets taken into a substrate loaded with various bacteria. This is even more important with substrate fish like cories that are continually browsing the substrate. Barbel infections are possible, even to the point of literally rotting off, so to speak.

Cleaning would have to be daily, to vacuum out all the detritus, and even then you wouldn't get all of it. In fry tanks such as discus where water changes are once, twice, even three times every day this can work, but not something I would recommend in a display tank.

A thin layer of sand would solve this problem; dark toned sand, never white.

 

[Hardrada]

Thanks Byron for the detailed response.

It's an issue that I have been puzzling over for as long as I have had my cories . When I had only my Betta, it wasn't an issue at all, as many Betta set ups are bare bottomed. But for cories, it appears to be a different story. I have been sifting through many forums and the opinions are so varied. Some say only sand never gravel. Some say only beige never dark substrate. Many say bare bottomed is bad. Then there are a few others who say substrate is not the issue, bad water quality is. So quite frankly, I am confused.

And then there is the added complication of reading of someone's betta choking to death on substrate . So I compromised with lots of leaf litter, leaving only the front part of the tank bare, and also having lots of plants to increase the surface area for nitrifying bacteria.

Incidentally, did you say it's ok to leave the leaf litter in there till it decomposes? I worry about it raising nitrite and nitrate levels and so I change out the leaf litter every two to three weeks.

 

[Byron]

Thanks Byron for the detailed response.

It's an issue that I have been puzzling over for as long as I have had my cories . When I had only my Betta, it wasn't an issue at all, as many Betta set ups are bare bottomed. But for cories, it appears to be a different story. I have been sifting through many forums and the opinions are so varied. Some say only sand never gravel. Some say only beige never dark substrate. Many say bare bottomed is bad. Then there are a few others who say substrate is not the issue, bad water quality is. So quite frankly, I am confused.

And then there is the added complication of reading of someone's betta choking to death on substrate . So I compromised with lots of leaf litter, leaving only the front part of the tank bare, and also having lots of plants to increase the surface area for nitrifying bacteria.

Incidentally, did you say it's ok to leave the leaf litter in there till it decomposes? I worry about it raising nitrite and nitrate levels and so I change out the leaf litter every two to three weeks.

Sand for the cories takes precedence over imaginary Betta choking, lol. Mind you, I do not consider Betta as community fish, and they should be alone. But cories sometimes work...risky.

Substrate for most all tropical fiish should be dark, this is natural habitat conditions. There is no white sand in tropical creeks and streams. Buff is as light as you want to get. I like play sand which here is dark grey mix (grains of black, white, buff and grey). Water quality is important too, but fish need a substrate, cories need sand (yes, they can manage over gravel, but it is wrong to expect fish to survive rather than thrive).

Leaves decomposing will not cause nitrite or nitrate, or ammonia come to that, any more than normal. Obviously they produce ammonia and CO2 in decomposition, but this is easily handled by the bacteria or plants or both. You can replace leaves as they begin to become thread-bare, or leave them permanently; I tend to do the latter, as skeleton leaves can be another interesting addition to the natural aquascape.

 

[Hardrada]

Ah ok. Thanks Byron!

I did some preliminary research in suitable tankmates for bettas before I bought my cories. And lots of betta sites said cories are good. I like cories too. I used to keep them and they have oodles of personality. The LFS where I bought them also said they would be compatible with hardrada.

It was only after they came home that I read other sites saying bettas should be kept alone.

Fortunately for me and everyone in the tank, they kind of get along. Hardrada' s only interest in them is trying to snatch their food when it's feeding time. They leave him well alone too. I must say though that Hardrada is rather more active with the cories around. He still naps a bit. But he will patrol his tank more now.