Putting Substrate In Bare Bottom Tank

[mwood2]

Well I had to move my tanks recently. I have to move the contents of my 30 gallon over to my new apartment so I bought a new 30 gallon tank and places my extra eclipse 3 hood, Fluval Ecco 2234, Fluval U3 and all the decor over to the new tank and left it bare bottomed and then moved the fish inside. Everyone is inside and doing fine but how long can I leave it bare bottom for? Also if I choose to add substrate whats the best way to do so? As of right now the stock is:

1 Platy
1 Opalaine Gourami (Yes i am aware of the size problem)
1 Keyhole
3-4 Coolie Loach
1 Upside Down Catfish

Soooo yea I am very under stocked and wondering how soon I should start stocking again. The tank is over a year mature. I just got everyone inside 2 days ago and everything is stable.

 

[didz04]

Well for a start you will be completely fine with a bare bottom and people usually keep a setup without substrate as its easier for them to clean. However, fish do prefer substrate as in their natural habitat they have some sort of substrate. Also it will be easier to add in plants no need to find potted plants. Your kuhli loaches would love it if you had subtrate as they like to dig. If you do go for a gravel then I recommend you to get a finer sandy substrate because your kuhli's will prefer it as its easy for them to dig also it won't damage their barbels and any other fish that prefers to dig. A sandy subtrate makes the aquarium look neater and more natural than bigger grained gravel in my opinion. One last recommendation, you should go for a darker colour because your fish will feel more secure and camaflauged especially for your kuhli loaches.
Before you put your substrate into your tank you should wash properly a few times even if its in a brandnew packet, just incase. If you're going for a sandier substrate then it should be fine putting it in the tank with the fish still in there. However, if a more bigger grained subtrate then I will recommend you to take your kuhli loaches out first for their safety of being squished, then place it in. The best thing to do is place the washed substrate into a bucket and slowly lower the bucket into the tank so it fills with water, and place it near the bottom and then tilt so it all comes out but not too quickly. Then you can just spread it around the tank, also will be best to take out all the decoration and plants so they can be placed on top. However if there are rocks piled up on each other then it will be a good idea to leave them because they will be more stable with the rocks touching the glass rather than ontop of the sand, less likely to collapse this way. Using this method your tank wouldn't go all cloudy, but even if it did it wouldn't harm your fish but you will just have to wait until it all clears up which can take up to a few hours. If you have a sponge filter then try to avoid sitting the filter on top of the sand as you will find lots of little particles sucked in the sponge which will clog it up quicker.

The advice I have given is mainly all from my experience.
Hope this has answered all your questions