Gravel Vac

[Tempestuousfury]

Why are there so many posts asking if a gravel vacuum is necessary? I have always deemed them necessary for mulm removal and they remove water at the same time. Why do newbies and not-so-newbies not buy them or even bother to ask if they're necessary? Hi nitrate levels are caused by food and feces, and guess where they collect? Yup, under the gravel.

Is it just me or do other people agree? Maybe I'm just being crass...

 

[thecichlidaddict]

You need to keep in mind two things:

A)some people really are newbies, and what is common sense to you is not to somebody who has never done this.

B)there is a lot of bad advice floating around, both on the internet and more specifically in pet shops where employees also have no clue, but instead of admitting it they make stuff up on the fly. Newbies are told some pretty crazy stuff sometimes.

 

[crazie.eddie]

I agree.....Like fish will only grow to the size of their tank

 

[Shizat]

I personally never touch my gravel, I don't have a bilogical filtration system so my gravel has to do all of the work. I just feed the fish small amounts at a time and have 9 small corys to clean up the bottom and do a weekly 15 percent water change that leaves the nitrates at about 15ppm. A lot of people dont read up on what gravel cleaners are meant for and use it to clean all of their gravel and kill all of their fish in the process.

 

[crazie.eddie]

I personally never touch my gravel, I don't have a bilogical filtration system so my gravel has to do all of the work.

This will build up ammonia more if you don't. I agree that when you gravel vac you remove some bacteria, but the bacteria will recolonize the substrate. The waste will take awhile to accumulate. Untouched gravel will build up aerobic areas, which is dangerous. It's always best to move your gravel around.

A lot of people dont read up on what gravel cleaners are meant for and use it to clean all of their gravel and kill all of their fish in the process.

This is becuase people clean the gravel, clean the filters, change their media all in the same day. When you clean the gravel, you remove some bacteria. When you clean the filter, you remove some bacteria, when you change the media, you remove some bacteria. That's why it's always best to do a gravel cleaning/water change about 3-4 days after you clean your filter/change your media.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

You can vacuum the gravel without destroying the bacterial colony by vacuuming in sections. Your tank will suffer for it long term if you never touch it. Cat fish don't eat mulm, they contribute to it.

 

[Shizat]

yea i use chopsticks to move around the gravel once a month. I was just talking about a lot of people seem to take their gravel cleaner and give it a cleaning of a lifetime. A lot of newbies don't have the filters that can handle the load on its own and usually just have the ones that they change the carbon media on once a month and just meant for mechanical filtration and not biological.

 

[vantgE]

In my expierence and i am a newbie a gravel vac is a must if your tank has been set up for say a month even without extra food you will still be surprised how much they crap i have an undergravel filter which makes it worse but now after amonth of non-gravel vacing i am attmpting to do it every 3-4 four days in hopes to get my gravel clean you don't notice it untill the gravel realy gt's stired up

 

[Opcn]

I got my siphon hose the same day I got my tank simply because I knew I didn't want to be ladleing out the water for changes. But If you have enought plants you shouldn't need to vacume that often at all because plants effectively nullify the mulm. Thats a funny frase nullify the mulm.

Opcn

 

[Tempestuousfury]

There are also those people with undergravel filters who don't have the vacuums. If the gravel isn't cleaned the filter drastically loses effectiveness.

As for the gravel changes killing the fish, it's not possible with a gravel vac. I didn't have one when I started, but I had been cleaning the tanks with a bucket and cups for months because I hadn't stepped into a true pets store and hadn't found this forum. I had to remove all of the gravel and give it a good cleaning nearly every week because of severe overstocking. never killed the fish, though. never came close.

I'm not sure what I was getting at with the last comment, but I threw it out anyways.

 

[crazie.eddie]

A lot of people dont read up on what gravel cleaners are meant for and use it to clean all of their gravel and kill all of their fish in the process.

I also forgot to include...Some people remove so much of the water (like over 50%) and wonder why they have problems (cloudy water, high ammonia, fish deaths, or redness on gills, etc.).

 

[thecichlidaddict]

It's not uncommon for me to do 50% water changes, large water changes should have no effect on any of that. Bacteria is not free swimming, it grows on surfaces, so water changes will not effect the bio-filter. Now... if you don't dechlorinate properly, that's where trouble starts.