Bare bottom tank question

[bigbrad73]

How does the tank keep the good bacteria without the gravel or sand in it. I know it would be in you filter media. But everytime you clean it it seems like you would loose it. I have heard of people doing it with a secondary tank that you cycle water through both tanks. Just wondering. I was always told if you had a single tank you would have to have some type of substrate. Btw Im new to discus, I have been keeping big cichlids like jack Dempsey jags peacock bass and a aro. So def a new to discus but not new to the hobby.

[mikel]

If you use a sponge filter, or even a HOB filter, always rinse the media out by simply squeezing it a few time in the tank water itself (maybe in a separate bucket, not in the tank itself). This, combined with daily water change with conditioned water, will be sufficient to keep your water quality high, and beneficial bacteria in good numbers. It is not necessary to have substrate, in my opinion, substrate is not a good match with discus. mike:)

[Larry Bugg]

Two filters. I like a sponge and a HOB but a lot of people use two HOB's or Two sponges.

[bigbrad73]

And rotate them?

[Larry Bugg]

And rotate them?

Clean them on different schedules, that way when you are cleaning one the other is still running with the bacteria. As mikel said rinse them out in a bucket of water from the tank also. This way the filter you are cleaning will also retain some of the bacteria.

[zamboniMan]

Unless the tank is going to be sitting empty for any length of time I wouldn't worry about it.

[zamboniMan]

Depends on your filtration really. But eventually yes, they will need a bigger tank.

[bigbrad73]

Depends on your filtration really. But eventually yes, they will need a bigger tank.

What does needing a bigger tank have to do with this thread? How would you even know what size tank I do have?

[Jhhnn]

Once sponge filters are cycled and heavily populated with bacteria, just take 'em apart, squeeze the sponges firmly in and out a few times in a bucket of tank water or a bucket of prime conditioned tap water, then put 'em back to work. IME, you don't have to alternate or anything like that, just so long as you use water that's not lethal to aquatic life... nor is it desirable to get carried away, clean the hell out of 'em, defeating their purpose... the more water you change, the less you'll need to fuss with the filters. Sponge prefilters for HOB or canister filters are another story entirely, because they're mostly mechanical rather than biological. I clean mine in tap water every day or few... Having the sponge prefilters means I only fuss with the canister filters rarely, every few months seems to be entirely adequate for me... very, very little gook in 'em at all...

[joanr]

Ditto to above, pre-filters are a blessing. I wanted to mention that when I clean the sponges in the HOB filters I do it in my clean kitchen sink that is filled with clean Prime conditioned water on a rotating 3 week schedule. What I'm really interested in cleaning is the boxes themselves and the intake tubes, but the sponge media needs a little rinsing also. Here is the thing, make sure the water temperature in your rinse bucket or sink is about 85 degrees or whatever you have been keeping your tank temp at. Too hot or too cold and you will kill off the bacteria in the media.

[tcyiu]

How does the tank keep the good bacteria without the gravel or sand in it. I know it would be in you filter media. But everytime you clean it it seems like you would loose it. I have heard of people doing it with a secondary tank that you cycle water through both tanks. Just wondering. I was always told if you had a single tank you would have to have some type of substrate. Btw Im new to discus, I have been keeping big cichlids like jack Dempsey jags peacock bass and a aro. So def a new to discus but not new to the hobby.

One point that seems to be missing in the responses thus far is that keepers of BB tanks tend to change water very frequently. This reduces the dependency on the filter system for bio filtration because the waste has not really had much time to decompose into ammonia etc. What little waste has decomposed is eaten up the relatively small bio-filter. So a matured, well seeded sponge, when rinsed with clean water (i.e. no chloramine/chlorine) will still handle the relatively light waste load if there are frequent WC.

As a case in point, there are breeders who keep well maintained BB with no filtration. Just 100% WC every day.

BTW, I am NOT recommending this, especially for new fishkeepers. I personally prefer a lot of bio-filtration as insurance. I just wanted to contribute this point in the discussion as to why BB tanks with good WC regimes can get away with little filtration.

Tim