Gravel or Plain Bottom

[FISHY]

Can anyone give me a reason why some people use the gravel on the bottom of the tank and some people say it's not good. Any opinions? and why?

[DarkDiscus]

Fishy,

Bare bottoms are cleaner, there is no disputing that. This is better for the fish.

Some folks think the bare bottoms look ugly or want to try their hands at planted tanks, which prefer a substrate.

John

[gemamanda]

There is a way to sort-of do both! If you want the look of gravel, but want it to stay clean... why not just put a very thin layer of gravel down, just enough to cover the bottom. Then you can still get the uglies out and have a more pleasing look to your tank.

[FISHY]

I will mention that to my husband. We've got a 120 gal with african cichlids, a 20 gal with guppies and little snails and stuff the kids enjoy and a 75 gal we are converting into a discus tank. my husband had Discus a long time ago. Has anyone seen or used that new freshwater salt in any tanks? I saw some the other day and it looked so pretty in a tank.

[FISHY]

:o

I didn't mean freashwater salt - it's freshwater sand. It looks like the sand in saltwater tanks.

[Anna Piranha]

I have a thin layer of gravel on the bottom of the tank in my living room. It's still a trap for all kinds of gunk. It makes it harder to clean and frozen bloodworms stain the gravel, which makes things look even worse. I bleach the gravel, which is risky unto itself, because unless you rinse that gravel like a maniac, you risk killing your fish. :yikes:

The gravel is not worth the hassle and if I were the only person who had to look at the tank, it wouldn't have gravel in it. To answer the un-asked question, yes. I am the only person who cleans the tank. Which really burns my *** :fried:

[Aquarius]

I use to use gravel, only in the community tanks now. Would like to try sand in a community Discus tank, but for Discus only, Bare is the way to go.

Just paint the bottom of the tank. Or, use pink or blue foam board. There's
plenty of ways to make the tank look fine with out the mess.

[Carol_Roberts]

I have a sand substrate in my community African tank and it works nicely.

All my discus tanks are bare bottom. Discus are different than other tropical fish. They need a very, very clean environment. I siphon the bottom and change water everyday. At least once a week I wipe down the inside and bottom of the tank with a sponge or white paper towels. IF I have clay pots in the tank they are also wiped down.

[GWdiscus]

I cheat, I use clay pots with a small layer of gravel with a thick layer of peat, place the plant in this and then cover with a .5" layer of gravel. I get the benifit of a BB tank with the advantage of plants, which I believe help with water quality! ;D

[Desertdrifter]

I put two tubes of good quality silicone on the bottom of my tank smeared it around and dumped in gravel. push down the gravel let the silicone cure and shop vac up the loose stuff. tricks I learned: use more silicone so the gravel is level and get a resperator when doing the work. looks great seems easy to clean. some day I will figure out how to post pictures I have a good digital camera (or should I say my wife does).

Hi,

this is from Degen's book.

There is no better way to put size on YOUNG ADULT than to place it in a nice planted tank.

Dick Au also says that small discus should not be kept in a tank with gravel. Once they hit 4 in i guess it is ok.

I don't like gravel cause i've noticed that discus like to take their food from the bottom and gravel gets messy.
I guess with sand your chances are better.

alex

[Carol_Roberts]

. . . . does the book say discus need 6.0 pH too? You'll fiind lots of outdated information in the older discus books . . .

[korbi_doc]

:bounce: :bounce: My 90g has a one layer medium sized gravel (stone? 'bout 3-6mm). Fish have no problems with it, even the cories can get the food from the bottom. When I vacuum, the stones get twirled up in the plastic cone & the dirt comes out easily. Couldn't get anything under the bottom glass of the tank which has been on this built-in heavy wooden bench for yrs, & I was worried 'bout the reflection. My 125g is still BB with sword plants in pots, but I do intend someday to add some stones, & the bottom is painted brown. A 1 layer stone does look better, as Gemamanda suggested, also JMO.

Carol, hadn't thought 'bout the pots, but when I took them out to put fert tabs in, they were fine, no coating on them at all.

Desertdrifter, love that idea!!I did it to an old 29g, but it leaks & I haven't gotten to repair it yet. Please post pix, Dottie ;D ;D

[Mr.Trips]

Fishy, go to Tulsa Aquatics, and pick up some of John's fine gravel. It is in his front tanks by his cash machine. I have that in my 75G and any foods ly on top of the gravel, and does not soak into it, it is also easy to clean.

[carman]

if you want to add gravel, go for it. just be sure to have good filtration and clean well everytime you change water. I have gravel and change the water twice / week.


carman

[Smokey]

Poor :'(Poor :'(anna :'(has clean the tank all by herself.lol ;D
I'm presently doing the maintance for a lfs -all new set ups. 20 -20 gallon units and 2 - 40 gallon units. ALL HAVE UNDERGRAVEL FILTER AND ''''GRAVEL''''. What a pain in the butt. It take 6-8 straight hours to do 50% water changes. I set up one on my Little Giant 4MDQX pumps to suck out the debre and water. And the tanks are never clean... **** is still under the plates.
A brand new set-up... set up the wrong way ..MPO. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE ....FISHY!!!
My personal home tanks are all bare bottom...self cleaning..and other than wiping the internal glass daily, while doing the 50 -70% water changes, there is little more to do then watch the beautiful discus.

This I enjoy.

Smokey