Do you stir your gravel when siphoning??

[wavetide]

Hi

I tend to stir up my gravel a lot when I siphon to see if I can get everything ...

I've read that this is bad from some places because it causes some of the waste to fall into the cracks and to the bottom

is this true?

 

[Bloo]

I take you are talking about an under gravel filter ?
Don't stir it up too vigorously. You can just gently prod the gravel, but stirring is a no-no.

 

[rdd1952]

I would think that if you had an undergravel filter it wouldn't be terribly bad because the waste would end up falling to the bottom and be filtered out. With any other type of filter though, it would create problems. There's really no need to stir the gravel though. Just lightly move the top part of gravel around with your vacuum to get to the trash.

 

[GirlinWayside]

I dont stir mine but I do push the syphon all the way to the bottom..


why is it bad to move it around a whole lot??

 

[rdd1952]

I dont stir mine but I do push the syphon all the way to the bottom..


why is it bad to move it around a whole lot??

[snapback]892778[/snapback]​

If you move the gravel around, the waste/trash will fall down to the bottom where you can't vacuum it out very well. As it decays, it will begin to create problems in the tank.

 

[stephend]

I press my gravel syphon down into the gravel like a pastry cutter, then give it a wee shoogle as I lift it out - it picks up LOADS - a whole cloud gets drawn away. Very satisfying.

Also, this method minimises disturbing my plants (which I tend to keep away from as a little bit of poop probably does them good).

Cheers,

Stephen.

 

[GirlinWayside]

I press my gravel syphon down into the gravel like a pastry cutter, then give it a wee shoogle as I lift it out - it picks up LOADS - a whole cloud gets drawn away. Very satisfying.

Also, this method minimises disturbing my plants (which I tend to keep away from as a little bit of poop probably does them good).

Cheers,

Stephen.

[snapback]893534[/snapback]​

thats exactly how I do mine.. although I have stirred it around before - I never knew it was bad to do.. )