Bare bottom planted tank?

[Art]

Would you ever consider going bare bottom??

Before you discount the question right off the bat, hear me out.

Benefits of a bare-bottom tank:

• Easy to take plants out and spot-treat for algae
• Very clean environment as you can vacuum the bottom to remove most of the detritus
• Easy to rearrange plants to create a new aquascape
• Very easy to remove plants, trim them and place them back
• Replanting doesn't dump a ton of nutrients into water column as you simply remove the pot to replant
• Clay pot provide for water exchange between water column and substrate to avoid any dead spots
• Any shape of pot can be used. For example, square pots can be put side by side to create a lawn
• Easy to control feeding regimen to heavy root feeders only and not others

Did a change your mind a bit?

 

[ayman.roshdy]

View attachment 1092

Would you ever consider going bare bottom??

Before you discount the question right off the bat, hear me out.

Benefits of a bare-bottom tank:

• Easy to take plants out and spot-treat for algae
• Very clean environment as you can vacuum the bottom to remove most of the detritus
• Easy to rearrange plants to create a new aquascape
• Very easy to remove plants, trim them and place them back
• Replanting doesn't dump a ton of nutrients into water column as you simply remove the pot to replant
• Clay pot provide for water exchange between water column and substrate to avoid any dead spots
• Any shape of pot can be used. For example, square pots can be put side by side to create a lawn
• Easy to control feeding regimen to heavy root feeders only and not others

Did a change your mind a bit?

I thought before of having something a bit similar where I have normal inert gravel at the bottom but instead of planting directly into the gravel have the plants in some clay or glass containers with nutrient rich substrate, this way I can easily take out any plant to make some maintenance outside of the tank and then bring it back into the tank, and in case some plants are not doing very well I can just remove them with their container without disturbing the other plants

Just an idea that I thought to do in the future

 

[Art]

Thanks @ayman.roshdy. I know I posted this the day before Christmas but now I'm feeling a little like I'm in the minority because I think this is not a bad idea.

When my life settles down some, I plan on having a main display tank which will likely be garden style. But I'm a big believer in having a separate farm tank. A 40 breeder set up as bare bottom so that I can truly control the farm aspect of cuttings, bringing back poor growth, growing out new plants, etc.

I may have to do a post on that when I do it to try and convince others on my plan! LOL Come on @GreggZ, bare bottom would make resetting super easy!

 

[BigWave]

@Art Ive got an idea but hesitent to post it. Think it would make money if marketed right. Would definetly take someone thats computer savi.
Anyways I've done bare bottom tanks in the past, mostly as holding tanks or to quickly grow out a plant. Have always kept them in their little baskets.

 

[Art]

Ive got an idea but hesitent to post it.

WHAT? You're in the circle of trust here, @BigWave! Post away!

 

[Art]

As anyone who is serious about growing cryptocoryne will tell you, bare bottom tanks are the way to go for their cultivation. This is why I set them up in the past. I was tissue culturing cryptocoryne and trying to grow a genetic database of the ones that were going extinct. Bit off more than I could chew at the time.

Nevertheless, what I realized was that I could literally have different substrate in each pot. The water column represented a static environment for all and I could move the plants to get more or less light as needed.

I remember getting Cryptocoryne zukalii from Claus Christensen of Tropica. It was VERY rare back then. It was a tiny specimen he brought from the Denmark and no one really knew how to grow it. So I put it into my "super secret" substrate mix in a clay pot and in an area of the tank that would get low to moderate light. I spent weeks moving it from one spot to another depending on how I observed it. I replanted it a couple of times when it grew enough for me to separate it into pieces.

The bare bottom tank was also my grow out tank to take the tiny tissue culture specimens into young adult plants and then selling or giving them away.

I know it's a luxury to have another tank for most of us, but I got to say that a bare bottom can be very useful, low maintenance and worth the added work (spouse approval required!).

 

[*Ci*]

Back in the early 2000’s, my 125g bare bottom goldfish tank. The crypts and crinum are in black glass vases with EcoComplete. The tank was drilled on the bottom right under the two potted crypts and I used upside down plates on little feet to raise the vases up a half inch. My canister inputs were hooked up to these “bottom drains” and they kept the floor of the tank swept remarkably clean (and perfect for goldfish). The plants thrived on low light and no ferts or c02.



Fast forward to the present - because I remember how easy the goldfish tank was to maintain, I switched my high tech planted tank over to vases of low light growers, last fall, with just a half inch of gravel for looks (and some of the same vases from 20 years ago!):



I was happy with the clean, kind of mid century modern look and the low maintenance aspect, super easy to thoroughly vacuum all the substrate weekly, but I changed my mind again and currently the tank is back to a deeper substrate with the same plants, but planted in the ground with the hope that the will spread to form more of a jungle look.

 

[Immortal1]

Was looking thru this thread and it reminded me of a friend from the other forum. Screen name Maryland Guppy. If I remember correctly, he had a pretty specific fertilizer regiment, I believe a sump, and these crazy bright DIY lighting pucks. Anyway, the pic below will give you an idea why I thought of him.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I was recently listening to Jeff Senske’s new podcast and he was advocating “soil-less” tanks. Not necessarily bare bottom, but a heavy focus on epiphytes and growing plants without “planting” them. In terms of maintenance I’d def say it’d be simpler, but I’m sure it would limit success with certain pickier plants.

 

[GreggZ]

Was looking thru this thread and it reminded me of a friend from the other forum. Screen name Maryland Guppy. If I remember correctly, he had a pretty specific fertilizer regiment, I believe a sump, and these crazy bright DIY lighting pucks. Anyway, the pic below will give you an idea why I thought of him.
View attachment 1572

Hey Linn I wonder how Maryland Guppy is doing? I loved following along as he tried all kinds of things.