Siliconing gravel to tank floor

[Kaza]

I am growing out 18 babies in a 5 foot bare bottomed tank, I cant believe how much poo they generate. I feed beef heart in the morning and then vacume and do a 30% water change and at night I just vacume up any mess.
However the problem with barebottomed tanks is they dont look that good, as a display tank. Even with planted driftwood and pots.

I read somewhere that using two or three tubes of aqarium safe silicon you can stick pebbles, gravel, coloured glass into the silicon. Working fast you put an even coat of silicon on the bottom of the tank, slope it slightly towards one corner and then put a thin layer of fine gravel on the top make sure it is well pushed into the silicon. Wait a week for it to dry, brush of any lose bits and ready to fill with water.

Has anyone tried it, sounds good. You could even do two levels.

[jim from sydney]

i have never heard of it, nor seen it. It seems to me that the bare btm tank is a lot easier to clean than gravel permanently stuck to silicon. The main thing is , you cannot get away from cleaning the btm. and after all if the babies show that they are healthy, why bother, i am sure you are proud of their health. I dont believe in "cover-ups" of any kind, let it be natural and enjoy it.
cheers....Jim

[bob]

they do it a lot here in california I havent tryed it they say use the glass instead of gravel not sure why though
bob

[kalebjarrod]

bare bottoms are used for there "cleanability"

i understand the concept but i would have thought a gravel syphon/vac would do a better job in the fact the gravel is turned and thus cleaned through. would glueing the gravel create tiny pockets for waste to get stuck to?

interesting though, got any pics?

[jim from sydney]

Kaza......may be try your ideas in a smaller tank first...just in case????? :idea:
Have fun Jim.

[Kaza]

I tried to find the picture but no luck, this option is the same as bare bottomed. There should be no lose bits of gravel it is all inbedded into the silcon. I would have thought if you angled it away from the filter intake the mess would be more likely to collect at the other end making it easier to clean. Once in a while you could scrub the gravel the same as you would the glass.

Also I think this looks far more natural than bare bottomed, if you want a tank that is a real display barebottomed can look messy I vacumn the mess twice a day yet it still collects in between cleaning time.

Yet my four tank with gravel always looks clean and nice and I have to say this the water looks far more polished perfect in fact. I only have a thin line of gravel and it is vacumned once a day.