As we all know, puffers are extremely messy eaters and heavy poopers. This can cause our sandbeds to get dirty quickly and cleaning a sandbed kinda sucks (also some debate on how much you should clean/stir), nor can you ever get it 100% clean. Additionally, (most) puffers love to eat out clean up crew buddies, so it's tough to keep a tank clean without heavy maintenance.
I currently have a baby stars and stripes puffer (<2") in quarantine/observation and working on setting up its own tank. With my qt being bare bottom, it became very apparent to me that I don't want sand in his tank, so I'm looking for alternative that looks better than plain ol bb.
So far I have seen people using pvc sheets or starboard. I like the look of this (kinda) and it's better than just painting the bottom of the tank bc it's not reflective, but as a trade off, it won't grow biological bacteria, which is essential in a heavy nutritiant tank. Also, I don't think it would be easy to stack rocks on it, as I'm sure it's slippery.
I have seen people who use limestone tiles..i love the look of this, but it's tough to find limestone tiles that are definitely raw/uncoated and to be safe, you need to soak them for a minimum of 1 month.. This is a pain bc I want to have my tank setup in a month and would prefer to silicone them down.. Which won't be possible when the tank is filled. I'm also concerned about leaching and phosphates, regardless of how long they soak.
I thought about using ceramic media blocks, but it would cost hundreds of dollars for enough to cover the bottom..but I love this concept.
This leads me to my most recent and promising idea - ceramic media balls. A mixture of marine pure and brightwater media balls of various sizes. I would lay down egg crate first and then place them on top. This would give a nice variation in the bottom, lots of room for bacteria to grow and easy to clean (well, easier). They would also be able to support rocks easier than tiles/blocks/pvc. However, they are not the cheapest either.
So, what are your thoughts on a happy medium between barebottom vs sand/clean bottom vs biological filtration/plain and boring vs aesthically pleasing? Just curious what others are doing and what your thoughts are on using media balls instead of sand.
Thanks!
I currently have a baby stars and stripes puffer (<2") in quarantine/observation and working on setting up its own tank. With my qt being bare bottom, it became very apparent to me that I don't want sand in his tank, so I'm looking for alternative that looks better than plain ol bb.
So far I have seen people using pvc sheets or starboard. I like the look of this (kinda) and it's better than just painting the bottom of the tank bc it's not reflective, but as a trade off, it won't grow biological bacteria, which is essential in a heavy nutritiant tank. Also, I don't think it would be easy to stack rocks on it, as I'm sure it's slippery.
I have seen people who use limestone tiles..i love the look of this, but it's tough to find limestone tiles that are definitely raw/uncoated and to be safe, you need to soak them for a minimum of 1 month.. This is a pain bc I want to have my tank setup in a month and would prefer to silicone them down.. Which won't be possible when the tank is filled. I'm also concerned about leaching and phosphates, regardless of how long they soak.
I thought about using ceramic media blocks, but it would cost hundreds of dollars for enough to cover the bottom..but I love this concept.
This leads me to my most recent and promising idea - ceramic media balls. A mixture of marine pure and brightwater media balls of various sizes. I would lay down egg crate first and then place them on top. This would give a nice variation in the bottom, lots of room for bacteria to grow and easy to clean (well, easier). They would also be able to support rocks easier than tiles/blocks/pvc. However, they are not the cheapest either.
So, what are your thoughts on a happy medium between barebottom vs sand/clean bottom vs biological filtration/plain and boring vs aesthically pleasing? Just curious what others are doing and what your thoughts are on using media balls instead of sand.
Thanks!
