Questions about putting substrate in aquarium?

[wonderfish8]

I'm a beginner to aquaponics, and right now we have everything set up besides the plants in the plant bed. I have tiger barbs, a red tailed shark, and a crawfish in the tank that are living pretty peacefully together right now.
My question is, looking at pictures I noticed most people (if they have their fish in an aquarium) do not have any substrate or anything at the bottom of the tank. Is there a reason for this?
I just really want to make the tank look pretty, (ha ha) and add substrate and maybe one live plant, but I was concerned about if that would effect the whole aquaponics system.... so would it? Or is it okay for me to add cool decorations and substrate to the tank?

[rich311k]

Substrate is used in most tanks, the ones without are either for utility uses, breeding and QT, or for big messy fish, makes the cleaning much easier.

There is no reason not to have substrate if you want one. I personally would never have a display tank without it.

[Lady Hobbs]

I find tanks to be rather bare looking without substrate unless there's a ton of wood or rock in the tank. The subtrate gives you another place to grow bacteria as well and I think the fish feel more secure. They don't swim on glass in the wild, after all.

[tanks4thememories]

I agree with all said so far. If I may add: Your tank is an expression of you and your creativity. It is living art. There are those who like the bare look for the reasons listed above and also those who do it for the aesthetics. Personally I cant stand to have a tank that is bare bottom (it looks like modern art - Which I'm also not very fond of..lol).

If you are going to go with substrate the key is which substrate will you choose. If you are going to be into live plants I suggest you spend some time picking the minds of our many planted tank Pro's like The good "Lady Hobbs" there, to weigh the pros and cons of the many options available.

Good Luck!!