Cleaning Gravel

[sonictherevenge]

I have been told many times to clean the gravel I use the medium gravity siphon, but by the time I get maybe a 1/3 of it were the particles are not coming up anymore I have already taken out about 40 percent of the water. what does it mean when people say clean the gravel till it runs clear I wouldnt have any water in tank. Its a 55 gallon.

 

[mark.w.jones]

I have been told many times to clean the gravel I use the medium gravity siphon, but by the time I get maybe a 1/3 of it were the particles are not coming up anymore I have already taken out about 40 percent of the water. what does it mean when people say clean the gravel till it runs clear I wouldnt have any water in tank. Its a 55 gallon.

In reality it is impossible to get crystal clean gravel. All the mulm, food particles and waste gradually slip between the gravel particles and even a really good siphon will never get rid of all of it. And as long as you are cleaning out on a weekly basis it will never become a problem. If it really bothers you loads then change to a sand substrate. In this case the waste all sits on the surface which always tends to get messy looking quite quickly. 40% water changes a week are also rather excessive, really you should aim for 20% ish unless you have particularly messy fish or are over stocked. There are also battery powered gravel vacs which suck water up, pass it through a fine filter bag and send it back into you tank again. These are good, as you don't lose water as you are siphoning but I haven't used one myself so wouldn't want to recommend a particular one to you.

 

[Matty P]

I have been told many times to clean the gravel I use the medium gravity siphon, but by the time I get maybe a 1/3 of it were the particles are not coming up anymore I have already taken out about 40 percent of the water. what does it mean when people say clean the gravel till it runs clear I wouldnt have any water in tank. Its a 55 gallon.

In reality it is impossible to get crystal clean gravel. All the mulm, food particles and waste gradually slip between the gravel particles and even a really good siphon will never get rid of all of it. And as long as you are cleaning out on a weekly basis it will never become a problem. If it really bothers you loads then change to a sand substrate. In this case the waste all sits on the surface which always tends to get messy looking quite quickly. 40% water changes a week are also rather excessive, really you should aim for 20% ish unless you have particularly messy fish or are over stocked. There are also battery powered gravel vacs which suck water up, pass it through a fine filter bag and send it back into you tank again. These are good, as you don't lose water as you are siphoning but I haven't used one myself so wouldn't want to recommend a particular one to you.

wow never heard of those before

 

[watsonlovessushi]

In reality it is impossible to get crystal clean gravel. All the mulm, food particles and waste gradually slip between the gravel particles and even a really good siphon will never get rid of all of it. And as long as you are cleaning out on a weekly basis it will never become a problem. If it really bothers you loads then change to a sand substrate. In this case the waste all sits on the surface which always tends to get messy looking quite quickly. 40% water changes a week are also rather excessive, really you should aim for 20% ish unless you have particularly messy fish or are over stocked. There are also battery powered gravel vacs which suck water up, pass it through a fine filter bag and send it back into you tank again. These are good, as you don't lose water as you are siphoning but I haven't used one myself so wouldn't want to recommend a particular one to you.

a couple related questions; how would you remove waste from the surface of sand substrate? would a very course sand substrate tend to not get stired up at all (like gravel)? do most plants prefer gravel over sand?

 

[Matty P]

a couple related questions; how would you remove waste from the surface of sand substrate? would a very course sand substrate tend to not get stired up at all (like gravel)? do most plants prefer gravel over sand?

Because the sand it compacted they waste just sits on top of the sand. All you need to do is hold the siphon a couple of inches above the sand and it lifts out all the waste. It isn't guaranteed that you won't lift any sand.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Sand or gravel makes no difference to plants. Use kids playsand as it's non toxic and dead cheap from most DIY stores.

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/HAGAN-BATTERY-GRAVEL...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Matty P]

dead link jonesy

 

[fearce]

If one were doing a 40% change weekly, due to substrate cleaning, I guess he/she can put part of the removed water back in?

 

[Matty P]

You could pour the water back into your tank through a net, then siphon your gravel again??

 

[mark.w.jones]

dead link jonesy

That worked fine when I posted it grr! Try again

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/HAGEN-BATTERY-POWERE...VQQcmdZViewItem