hello all, I was just wondering, how much less nitrate would one have if it was a barebottom tank? than if you had a 2 in layer of gravel in your tank?

I went barebottom a few months back and found that my nitrates went from about 20 to 5-10... they were lower.. but, in my gravel tank ive had nitrates that low since it cycled...

To keep your bare bottom tank consistently balanced it's important to have very good biological filtration as there are fewer places for good bio bugs to live. A canister filter and bio wheel should help with keeping your tank healthy together with regular water changes. I had a jebo cannister filter in my bare bottom. When I did a water change a would add some 'Bio cycle' as well, and I never had a problem.

With a bare bottomed tank, you can remove a lot more of the waste from the tank. With gravel, no matter how good you are at vacumning, there is always a layer of "crud" that is left. That waste will be processed in the nitrogen cycle, just like the other, "fresher" waste you see come directly from the fish. The end result of that process is nitrate.

The less waste you have in a tank, the less will be processed into nitrate, the less nitrate you will have in the end. If having a bare bottom allows you to have less waste "hidden" in the tank, you will have less nitrate.

Another place where you can easily remove a large amount of the "hidden" waste is in the floss part of your filter cartridges. Between water changes it is easy to pound the filter cartridges clean in a few cups of fish water (I use a blast from the utility sink - well water with no chlorine is GREAT for that).