Ideas Needed for Bare Bottom Tank

Hey everyone! I am trying to get my tank cycled before the new little one comes along and I need someone who is creative!!! I am honestly not that great at creative haha. I have a bare bottom tank and need some decoration advice. I would love to put some plants (real or fake) in there.

So far all I have is this.... Don't criticize, I am just starting it up!!

A few questions then:

1. How do I get plastic/silk fake plants to stay at the bottom and not move around?? I don't want to glue anything down because later (when my little one is bigger) I would love to do sand and live plants...

2. I have heard stuff about pots and was wondering what kind are the best? With the tank being a bare bottom, I don't want to scratch or break anything! So I am assuming just be very gentle when putting a pot in?

3. I know that having things like pots and wood in there helps with the "good bacteria" in the water. Yes?

4. I guess I also worry about buying wood from pet stores. I have heard that transferring wood or plants from a pet store can be bad and crash the tank or potentially harm the axolotl. Can someone explain how to safely do this?

I think that is all for now. I just woke up so I hope this all makes sense!

I know the thermometer says the water temp is way to high. Ignore that!!! It is now much cooler with the fan on it.

Most fake aquarium plants come on a stone or resin base to weight them down and will stay where you put them. Real plants often come with a heavy type of tape to weigh them down, or a pot with stones in.
Axies love to hide, a really cheap hide can be made fome a terracotta pot cut in half. You must smooth the edges down with a rasp, so your axie and the tank won't get damaged. You can also get various types of hide from your LFS - make sure you get aquarium hides and not reptile vivarium hides - those ones float!

Pots and plants can provide a surface for the good bacteria to live on, but they mostly live in the filter. Wood should be tank-friendly, but will not really provide surfaces for bacteria - wood contains a natural antibacterial substance. This substance will not leach into your water, and aquarium wood will be fine. Some types of wood can discoulor the water - ask at you LFS what type of wood you are buying - mopani wood is very well known for giving your tank a yellow/brown hue due to the tannins it releases.

Welcome,

I use fake plants in my tank. They are weighted at the bottom, so don't float around. I have a bare-bottom tank so it's easy to move them and clean around.

With wood from pet stores you can always boil it to help prevent any nasty stuff from being introduced. :happy:

I have bridges, wood, rocks and a small cave in my tank. Axolotls love to climb on everything so as long as you smooth sharp edges off, ornaments/hides should be fine.

I just redid my axie tank this morning. I had a ton of plastic plants with the boat thing in the bottom that is have to fill will bigger river rocks (so axies don't swallow and become impacted). Today, I bundled them together with micro cable ties and they look so much better and were easier to sink. Also, I used the same ties to bind some live anacharis plants together and put them in the tank along with a moss ball. It looks so good. I keep mostly bare bottom for ease of cleaning. Axie poop doesn't get cleaned up by my over the back filter. good luck.


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Does this look ok? It's just a start. Any suggestions would be great! Let me know if I should change something

You got the sticker off! Looks good so far.

Elise said:

You got the sticker off! Looks good so far.

Click to expand...

Haha um sure I did I didn't just make sure it didn't show in the pic haha how in the world do you get those things off?! I swear they make a glue that has the superpower of extra strength haha!

Ok, I didn't read all of it, so I don't know what has already been said, but this is what I did with my bare bottom.

So, I put sand in tubs, and put the plants in that, I also use bottles with sand and plants in them.

That's just what I do, pots sound good as well.

And I wouldn't be worried of it scratching the glass, I doubt it would do hardly any harm at all.

Hope this helps! -Seth