Im Back With A Few Q's

[fish12]

Hey guys ive been away for awhile and now im back, i have got rid of my other tank as i reliazed i couldnt maintain it. And it was way to big for my living situation.

But i am now going to setp a 2ft and my mate has been telling to go BB and have a bare bottom tank. I was amazed and i asked him dont u need gravel in your fish tank to hold some bacteria he replys not always as your filter will be able to hold enough by itself (canister).

But now i have a quesion for everyone, what about if i have a very thing layer of gravel and a air powered sponge filter in the tank to hold some bacteria and also supply oxygen, i will also be running a canister with matrix. I am just unsure weather gravel is better then no gravel bacteria wise??

Thanks guys

 

[aquariumart22]

Hi I have also been thinking of doing a tank with no substrate, I'm pretty sure all the bacteria you need will live in your filter media. Even though some may live in the substrate I would think no matter what, as you add fish your colony in the filter will grow to accommodate your stock.

 

[Aquascaper]

A question that is asked quite often in some form or other....

Bacteria require a surface to adhere to therefore the amount of bacteria in certain areas in an aquarium can be (theoretically) deduced by working out surface areas.

Water - Some bacteria will be held in suspension but in no beneficial quantities hence why doing large water changes will not normally cause a mini-cycle.

Ornaments - Bacteria will coat these but again in quite negligible amounts.

Gravel - Bacteria will coat each individual stone therefore numbers can be quite high but low water flow through the gravel limits the filtration efficiency. Also, cleaning will disturb the colony therefore it is not particularly stable for filtration and is generally considered more for decoration.

Filter media - Bacteria coat every surface of the media, whether sponges, ceramics, bioballs, etc. all of which is designed to have huge surface areas. Water is controlled and flowed over and through the media to ensure the bacteria is 'fed' constantly to optimise filtration.

Regardless of what the bacteria are clinging to in the aquarium the colony size will equate to the bioload in the tank, nothing more. In other words putting more filter media into the aquarium does not increase filtration, all it does is spread out the bacterial colonies as there is a finite amount of 'food' and therefore the population size is limited by that.

This means (in very simple terms) if you have an aquarium with gravel and a filter the bacterial colony may be spread 10% in the gravel and 90% in the filter.
By removing the gravel you will not lose the 10% colony as the bacteria in the filter will increase to 100% due to the excess 10% of 'food' available.

To sum up, as long as your filter has the capacity to hold enough media to handle the filtration of your tank the beneficial bacteria will colonise it 100% and you can leave the rest of the tank bare except for water with no adverse effects.....in fact the opposite, bare tanks are used for breeding down to the fact they are cleaner.

 

[fish12]

Would a internal filter with a couple of noodles in it be enough (5-8)?? to hold enough bacteria?
for only a few little fish(4).

thanks