I was just wondering......as I have been reading here, I have noticed that some of you have talked about bare bottom tanks. What is the bennifits to this and how do you keep this clean. I have always been told that healthy bacteria lives in the gravel and in doing a bare bottom tank, what does the bacteria grow on? how do you clean the fish poo up?

I was just curious!

Hi Dawn!

Your whole tank is one big bio-filter. Everything in it is coated with a fine layer of beneficial bacters. The greatest concentration of them is where the waterflow is the highest, in your filter/s. The second greatest concentration is in the gravel. If your filter employs a bio-media chamber or basket or sponge, this is where you will house your main colony. Everything else is secondary. However, if your filter does not utilize a sponge or bio-media chamber, your main colony will be housed on the filter cartridge floss and the carbon that may, or may not be, in it.

Now, if you have sufficient filtration for your tank (100gph, or more, for every 10 gallons) and your filter/s have biochamber/baskets or sponges, you could very easily remove gravel without wotrrying about the water parameters going wacky. This is because you will have enough bio-space and gph to handle the bio-load being created by your tanks inhabitants without the aid of your gravels bio-space.

So, depending on your tank size, filter/s size, and stocking density, you can or cannot safely go barebottom. To find this out, answer these questions:

Tank size?

Filter/s name and sizes?

Body length of each of your fish (excluding tail) and any other inhabitants?


The benefits of going barebottomed with sufficient filtration/water flow is a pristine bottom (no poo or uneaten food). No chances of anaerobic decomposition (produces toxic sulfuric gases) and a few other pluses like less places for parasites, fungus and bacteria to inhabit. This is a huge plus when you have multiple, well loved goldfish in a single tank.

In a barebottomed tank, your best bet is to have 13-15X's filtration per hour. This is 150 gallons per hour per 10 gallons of water. Otherwise, you stand the chance of not having enough currents to direct settling poo and food towards the intakes.

Try reading through the two sticky's at the top of this forum. "How to keep a barebottom clean" and "filter maintenence". I think you'll find a lot of info in there that will help!


Post back soon!