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hi all,nearly there in the tank setup stage of keeping zebs have built caves and made afew slate rock hiding places have got cpl pieces of bogwood and arranged all in tank the thing is dont know wether to put an aquarium sand substrate on bottom,read alot about many keepers having bare bottom tanks for easier maintinence but i dont know it just doesnt look right is there any other reason people dont use a sand substrate does it change water peramiters greatly??or are there better substrates i can use for that natural look?any help greatly appreciated

I have done both bare and gravel. Only one growout tank has gravel and that is because the tanks was in use for other fish and was appropriated as a growout. I did not want to unsettle the tank any more than necessary, so the gravel stayed.

So far I have set up a total of 6 tanks for zebras- 5 are bare including the breeder tank. Clearly I prefer bare and here are my reasons:

- Easier to clean. The dirt stands out clearly.
- Easier to see more place because the sides and bottom of the tank reflect. I often spot a pile of gunk as a reflection because it is actually someplace i can't see directly.
- Easier to spot fish for the same reasons.
- If a tank is on a frame only type stand it is often possible to be able to look up through the bottom glass. You would be amazed at what you can spot that way.

Here are the disadvantages to bare which some sort of substrate can handle:

- Rock and wood is rarely flat level on the bottom, so making it stable is a lot easier on sand or gravel than glass. The fish, esp fry, are often under stuff and, if you are not carefull, tipping something uhneven resting on a glass bottom can kill.
- Glass isnt pretty, substrate looks nicer.

thanks for reply,think im gonna go with bare glass, tried with fine gravel just to see and think it'll be abit of a nightmare to keep clean