Argh! Bare bottom tanks?

Rava

Rava

Betta Babe
Dec 26, 2002
223
0
16
CA
I took all the substrate out of my betta's 2.5 gallon tank not long ago. I'd been using large (large compared to normal gravel) river stones, and it was hard getting stuff out from in between and under them with the gravel vac. So I left 5+ in there for Otto to suck on, and easily clean around those.

I moved Otto into my 5 gallon tank (with gravel) the day before yesterday, and I gravel vacc'd some of the poop out today (there was alot of algae in there, so he's been eating and pooping like crazy!). I got so frustrated because I the airline tubing I use is really small (as small as they get, I think), but it STILL sucks up some of the gravel! I hate that! So I was wondering, for the 10 gallon tank I'm getting early next year, what about a bare bottom tank? Is that a viable option? Any other suggestions so I'm not sucking up gravel? :p

Thanks! :)
 
Having a bell would prevent the gravel from being sucked into the tube. I've seen gravel vacs (just the bell with 3'-6' of hose, not a Python) in many sizes - my LFS (Big Al's) has them down to a 1" bell with hose just larger than airline tubing.
[edit] Here it is on the Big Al's website. [/edit]

If you want to change the tank to bare-bottom I'd recommend putting some black paper/fabric on the outside of the bottom pane of glass, so the fish aren't spooked by the glare/reflection.
 
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like blinky said, you need a larger suction area with a smaller hose. wal-mart, petsmart, petco, lfs's all will have gravel vac's for cheap that just have the "bell" as blinky called it and a hose or you can step up to a faucet powered vac for more money. the smaller hose is better for sucking up heavier things like snails but it also will get rocks as you have found. Kyle
 
A smaller hose will make the water run through with more suction, so use either a larger dia hose, or a bell on the end like the storebought gravel vacs. This should reduce or elimnate the gravel problem.
 
Thank you, thank you! I'd planned on buying one of those gravel vaccs from Petsmart after Christmas, but didn't know that would solve the problem. Thank you muchly! :)
 
Oh, yeah, almost forgot. If your are siphoning into a bucket, the lower it is below your tank, the stronger the vacuum. If you want to lighten it up, raise your bucket higher onto a bench, stool, table, ect. and it should run slower.
 
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