Hi..

May I first introduce myself, I am 71 years old and a
male, married with two rescued dogs called Jack and
Benjie.

Welcome..!

Recently I got interested in keeping tropical fish
which I very much enjoy but I do seem to have problems in
keeping the bottom of the tank clean,

Well.., in our (native) fish keeping tradition vacuuming is
principally unknown..

Means we let the substrate (gravel or sand) undisturbed what
benefits anaerobe processes, too..

Wouldn't call our tanks "dirty" but stable and of course
natural looking.. :-)

--
cu
Marco