# bare bottom oscar tank



## trdtaco401 (Sep 19, 2011)

i just switched my 90 gal over to a 2 oscar tank.. right now has alot of rocks driftwwood and pfs.. im thinking about pulling all deco and sand out except the driftwood.. and just do a bare bottom tank with a ton of fake plants and the wood..

im thinking this will make clean up a sinch.. right now i cant use my electric vac to quick clean because it will suck up the sand..

so with the barebottom i can quick vac it every other day then weekly water changes..

i have 2 emp 400 hob filters.. will the cartidge hold enough good bacteria since there will be no substrate.. thanks for all opions


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## Phill0046 (Nov 9, 2011)

Sounds like it would be fine to me, but i don't really have bare bottom tank experience. It's not uncommon for people to do


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## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

I don't see any problems with going bare bottom. I personally don't like the look but it certainly does make keeping the water pristine easier. I have sand in my tank as well and really never vacuum it, I simply just do weekly water changes. The major benefit from using sand over gravel is that the waste tends to just sit on top of it. If you have enough water movement throughout the tank the waste will not settle and will eventually find its way into your filter intakes. If you'd really prefer to keep the sand look into adding a few powerheads such as Koralias.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I currently have 22 tanks running. 17 are bare bottom.


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## daver.r (Oct 27, 2012)

*** kept an Oscars and Jags in a bare bottoms it did assist in keeping the tanks clean,but i found the loss of gravel caused nitrite spikes .Easily corrected with two canisters with lots of bio media.


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## PreposterousFish (Jan 8, 2013)

The emperor 400 uses bio wheels. You'll be fine with gravel.


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## PreposterousFish (Jan 8, 2013)

Sorry without gravel


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