Bare Bottom Tanks REALLY Empty???

[DHDiscusMan]

Hi. Before finding this board I had two aquariums both with gravel and dying plants, as well as Driftwood, Lace Rocks and discus.

I have removed all the gravel and plants and found that keeping the aquariums clean is much easier but I still have some lace rock in one tank and some driftwood in the second. I have thought about removing these to make cleaning even easier (and get rid of the moss growing on the driftwood) but I have not yet since I figured that the discus may want to find areas of lower turbulance and also to give the smaller discus something to hide behind when the bigger ones chase them.

What do you all think? Is there a noticable difference if there is literally nothing in the tank but the heaters and sponge filters?

Thanks.

Dan

oh and fishy poop, until I vacuum it all.
Believe me, if you keep them in numbers.... They will be fine... I questioned the same as you, and the suctioned plants, driftwood, etc. still are sitting in my basement, waiting to be cleaned, within a month of removal.
Can't begin to tell you how easy the w/c's are (if u choose) once they were gone....

jmo
Julz

[DarkDiscus]

Dan,

The fish will hide behind the sponge filters if they want to and they tend to be less territorial with fewer items in the tank to claim as their territory. Like Julz says, if there are enough fish, they seem to do just fine in a bare bottom. And the maintenance is a breeze!

John

[EthanCote.com]

Hi Dan,

I concurred with Julz on the fact that BB tanks are much easier to clean. And I also concurred with John about the territorial aspect.

My tanks is currently half BB and half gravels with some plants. I also have other plants in pots. I guess, it is the best of both world.

The reason I like the plants and pots is that it does provide a safe place for Discus to run and hide when the bullies starts to pick on them or when they get scare. I also like it for the asthetic reason.

As you will find by reading through the threads on Simply, there are both pros and cons to having a BB tank vs a planted tanks. Take your pick.


Cheers,

Chi.

[keno]

Hi Dan, I actually have both, my show tank has gravel and all the fixens in with it. My discus do very well in it and I vacume the whole gravel bed once per week. I actually had my snakeskin and turq get wrigglers last week so I know things are fine with water. Takes me about 20 minutes to vacume.

My growout tank is bare bottom and gets at least 50% water change a day and they are fat and happy too.

Some may disagree with me but I think if you keep the gravel clean and keep up on your water changes discus can thrive in a show tank, heck Im even getting wrigglers doing this ;D ;D ;D ;D


Ken

[jklnbrg]

Once I had a grow out tank set up in the family room right next to the bar to the kitchen. Bare bottomed (the tank that is) just didn't look right to me. I got some VERY fine quartz sandblasting sand and used it to cover the bottom of the tank. (The depth was only enough to cover the glass)
To the tank I added a very large piece of driftwood that only had 3 small places that contacted the tank bottom. Sorta like a tripod. I also had a couple of Amazon Swords in pots.

At tank cleaning time I was able to get under the driftwood and around the pots with the siphon. The fine sand came up in the siphon along with waste and uneaten food. I rinsed the sand and returned it to the tank with the fresh water. I imagine the extra step of cleaning sand and then smooting the bottom so it was all covered only too a few minutes of extra time.

Not a bad thing for one tank, wouldn't want to do it for 20!

[Willie]

jklnbrg;

You hit the nail on the head! Of course you can get a tank clean. But if you have 20 tanks, and a life, then bb is the only way to go.

Willie

[Ralph]

This idea may not work for everyone depending on your tank cover.

I attached driftwood to a crosspiece (I used a strip of plexiglas, but it could be wood, metal, etc.) that spans the width of the tank, so that the wood hangs in the tank without touching the bottom. I did it mainly for looks (trying to imitate hanging branches or roots) but it also makes cleaning much easier. I can vacuum around them, slide them up or down the tank, or just pull them for cleaning. The discus seem to enjoy hanging out underneath and among the wood.

[Kap]

Thanks to the various contributors for their input on this thread. Herewith a few questions:

"Like Julz says, if there are enough fish, they seem to do just fine in a bare bottom."

For a 50 gal tank how many 2"-3" discus is "enough?" Is this so the fish at the top of the pecking order do not pick on any 1 or two of the others exclusively?

For those of you with "driftwood" in your tanks - what type do you use? The LFS stuff I see is of little interest to me. I'd like to put something authentic in the tank, real stuff I can find in a bog or some dead branches, simulating roots coming down into the water. What kind of wood should I look for, how should I prepare it, and for how long? Or is going in this direction just inviting trouble by potentially introducing new vermin into the tank?

Lastly, what about leaves? My outdoor pond has its own blackwater, tea color at this time of the year, and the fish seem none the worse off because of it. No doubt such would be the case in the Amazon tributaries, also. Any thoughts out there on this idea? Has anyone tried this? What kind of leaves would be appropriate, and how should I prepare them for the tank?

Thanks in advance for your input.

--David

[Ralph]

Hey David,
Usually six is the agreed number of discus that are needed for the fish to feel comfortable. The problem is that they will outgrow a 50 gal tank eventually.
There is a thread with many good suggestions on where to get driftwood and how to treat it.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=4354

When I first thought of discus keeping, I wanted to do a discus biotope, complete with dead leaves on the bottom. I still haven't given up on it but there are some problems. You have the leaves themselves that bleed substances into the water and you have the bacteria that are decomposing the leaves and their output (including ammonia). I've been experimenting with coating the dead leaves with spray-on lacquers and I've looked at fake dead leaves (they actually sell them in hobby stores). I'm going to try it with less expensive fish first though.