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Thread: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

  1. #31
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    you might try a restaurant supply for your barrels. they need to be "approved for food use"; they won't contain anything harmful to the fish.

    pat.

  2. #32
    Registered Member Apistomaster's Avatar
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Hello BBm'ers,
    I use several kinds of set ups for my discus depending on whether breeding or rearing.
    1. BB
    2. <1/4 inch of substrate
    3. Planted breeder grow out. 1/3 of the back has 3" deep sustrate confined within a 3" high siliconed glass box with front 2/3 barely covered with a sprinkling of substrate but essentially bare. It's easy to hydrovac the back, and make it livingroom worthy. I have a massive DIY wet/dry in these planted tanks. 10 discus grew from 2-1/2 in to 6+ in. in 10 months and have paired and moved to bare 20H's. Replaced them with 10 Heckels. I feed growing breeders 4 to 6 X day. Tank is 75g plus 25 more in the sump. 900gph return flow. There are as many approaches as there are aquarists. Do what works best for you. Discus are happy in any clean water changed regularly,kept warm and fed well. They're quick to let you know if WQ has slipped too much.
    I am in total agreement that as a general rule that a fully covered bottom leads eventually WQ problems. It's doable but generally not if you have many tanks to keep up, especially if discus are your main interest as they are for me.

  3. #33
    Registered Member geekfacejer's Avatar
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    nice thanks for the info !

  4. #34
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Carol,
    When ageing the water, I have been keeping my Powerhead on
    (Agitating the water) till the following day (50% once per day WC)..

    Is this necessary? Or should I just have it going say 3 hrs before my WCS's?

  5. #35
    Registered Member korbi_doc's Avatar
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Hi Mark, I'm not Carol, but here's my take on this..Before I moved from NJ, I had 2 35g storage barrels, started using the powerheads 24/7... then on advice from this site, put in airstones connected to my air pump; this costs less than running powerheads, but you need a large enough airpump...now, here in Tn, been running powerheads again, 'til I get more tanks to use the big pump....run them when I first put in Prime for cpl hours, after heating the water awhile, then for cpl hours before I use it for W/Cs....probably not necessary to run'm 24hrs....JMO, Dottie

  6. #36
    Registered Member rowedder's Avatar
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    Smile Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Bare Bottom tanks are extremely easy to keep clean, yes, we do have to vacuum out the tanks every day. My water changing system fills them back up for me though and changes a percentage of the water throughout the night and day, pretty convienient for us. Nice aquariums Carol.

    backyarddiscusllc.com

  7. #37
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    how can anyone who work feed discus 6 times a day? Most I can do is 3 times a day and that's a royal pain since I have to syphon away what they don't eat to avoid ammonia build up if too much food is left uneated.

    I do have a bare bottom but one still has to remove uneated food.

    Unless someone is unemployed or working from home, than it is impossible to keep up with such schedule. Why I prefer to buy older discus.


    Quote Originally Posted by Carol_Roberts View Post
    This is a 55 gallon tank at the end of the day. These five 10 month old discus are still fed heavily (6 times per day)
    Last edited by Daniella; 05-14-2009 at 03:48 PM.

  8. #38
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Quote Originally Posted by Daniella View Post
    how can anyone who work feed discus 6 times a day? Most I can do is 3 times a day and that's a royal pain since I have to syphon away what they don't eat to avoid ammonia build up if too much food is left uneated.

    I do have a bare bottom but one still has to remove uneated food.

    Unless someone is unemployed or working from home, than it is impossible to keep up with such schedule. Why I prefer to buy older discus.
    Daniella, this thread is 5 years old but good to know that somebody still reads it, since it is the same problem today as five years ago...

    Personally, I would worry more about daily water changes than having a spotless tank, regardless of the substrate. You figure, nobody evers vacuums the Amazon and fish thrive,...why? because water is constantly moving and conditions and levels are kept. You can do the same with regular water changes and vacuum when you get a chance. That way there's no chance for toxics to accumulate.

  9. #39
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Thanks for the info, think i'm going to change to a bare bottom tank myself

  10. #40
    Registered Member mathao's Avatar
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    i have a bb and rite after every feeding i clean the tank,and my fishes went from 2.5 to 2.75 inches in two weeks, everytime i clean the tank i take out about 5 to 10 gallons out.
    YEP, I have a lot of time on my hands now that i've been laid off.

  11. #41
    Registered Member morillonj's Avatar
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    what if my substrate was like one pebble thick. thats hardly anything. would it be just as clean as a bb?? cause i can still see the glass.

  12. #42
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    I hope I'm in the right topic for this...
    I have fine gravel in my planted show tank and several pieces of drift wood. I also use peat moss in the sump.

    I always have 5 ppm of nitrates in my tank. I'm convinced that the driftwood and peat make it impossible to keep the nitrates at zero. My tap water contains zero nitrates so I know that's not the problem. I change 15% every other day. Fish are healthy. I totally see the benefits of a bare bottom tank. Is it possible to keep a tank like a mentioned with zero nitrates? I suppose if I changed 100% of the water daily. Will this amount of nitrates negatively affect the discus over time?

  13. #43
    Homesteader Jennie's Avatar
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    nitrates under 10 ppm is fine. Nitrates are part of the cycle process of food and fish waste. Mine usually remain at 5ppm. Waterchanges help keep the nitrates low. I don;t think you have a problem. also I also have a fine layer of gravel. just do thorough gravel vacs daily
    Jennie,

    Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten

  14. #44

    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewB View Post
    I hope I'm in the right topic for this...
    I have fine gravel in my planted show tank and several pieces of drift wood. I also use peat moss in the sump.

    I always have 5 ppm of nitrates in my tank. I'm convinced that the driftwood and peat make it impossible to keep the nitrates at zero. My tap water contains zero nitrates so I know that's not the problem. I change 15% every other day. Fish are healthy. I totally see the benefits of a bare bottom tank. Is it possible to keep a tank like a mentioned with zero nitrates? I suppose if I changed 100% of the water daily. Will this amount of nitrates negatively affect the discus over time?

    Hi Andrew,

    Nitrates are a natural part of the Nitrogen cycle and you should always see some nitrates to ensure you have a cycled filter....that is unless you do one or two large water changes a day. Less than 40 ppm IMO is okay, but are you concerned with your levels?

    David

  15. #45
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    Default Re: The ease of cleaning bare bottom tanks

    Ok, thank you. That's good to hear. If up to 40 ppm is still acceptable to discus then I'm not concerned at all. I thought I remember reading somewhere here that you should shoot for 0ppm nitrates or it will affect the coloration and growth of your fish. I suppose that is kinda impossible to achieve.

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