There have been numerous passionate and logical arguments on both sides of this question. My suggestion is that you search the stickies on this subject and then decide what works best for you. This subject raises many questions about your experience, the size of the tank, substrate or none, juvenile discus or adults, amount of water changes, filtration, plants, lighting and so much more. You can best judge for yourself by researching this site. I have bare bottom tanks which make for easy cleaning and maintenance. Best regards. Rufus