Glass bottom for catfish tank

[asquirrel]

Hi Folks,

I'm wondering if I can remove all the sand from my tank and just use a glass bottom for my coreys. I got a problem with the sand getting brownish at the bottom of the tank which isn't coming off in spite of water changes. I put the problem up at fishlore but so far no responses.

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aquar ... ost2045408

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So I'm thinking maybe I can just get rid of the gravel all together and let the coreys eat from the glass bottom. The tank would be a lot cleaner and the water quality would be a lot better for the fish.

[Aquaticus]

Looks like a little bit of algae. Nothing to be concerned about, and if you are doing regular water changes, it isn't necessarily an indication of poor water quality. Put in an algae eater of some type. I'd say cut back your lights, but it looks like you have live plants. Personally, I like substrate in my tanks.

[PabloG]

I use bare bottoms. Easy to clean, no hidden detritus. More easy water flow to filters. No anaerobic regions.
It's my opinion. (my tanks aren't to show in the living room; they are in my fishroom where no guest allowed jajaja).

[asquirrel]

Thanks folks! I got a rubber lipped pleco in there but he doesn't seem to be working on those rocks. He prefers the shrimp pellets, algae wafers and zucchini I give him. Not sure if this would make a difference to the analysis with the black stuff on the plants and brown stuff on the rocks, but I'm using two of these bulbs for my aquarium

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electri ... /203252142

with these lamp clamps for lighting:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-150-Watt ... /100354511

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if I can remove all the sand from my tank and just use a glass bottom for my coreys.

Corydoras do much better with a sand substrate. It doesn't need to be a thick layer.

Your plants look to have "Black Brush Algae", very few fish will eat it. You can control it with Ramshorn snails, but they will only browse the sporelings not the mature tufts. Malaysian Trumpet Snails will help keep your substrate clean.

I think that plants and a substrate make maintaining water quality a lot easier. They aren't an alternative to water changes, I still change about 10% of the tank water every day. Have a look at <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... ex#p274950>.

cheers Darrel

[asquirrel]

Thanks! I'll go check that thread out right now! So will the Malaysian Trumpet Snails eat the black brush algae at all? What do I get them for food? How many should I get for a 20 gallon tank? Right now I have one betta, 4 coreys (melini, emerald, albino, and pepper), and one rubber lipped pleco.

[VelcroWY]

Siamese Algae Eaters are probably the best with black bush algae - I don't know. I've never had much luck with it. I've been out of the hobby for a couple of decades but in the old days we used a mixture of hydrogen peroxide (I think it was 3 water to 1 hydrogen peroxide) and then squirted it on the black algae. It can kill fish, but only if you use a lot. If you have a lot of algae, spray some and then wait a half a day and spray more. Hydrogen peroxide becomes inert fairly fast, as I recall. An old guy's solution.