Gravel Vacing A Planted Tank?

[Andy-lee]

How do I do it, or need I not do it? There is one very little areas where the gravel is actually accessible so I haven't really done in it a while, do it matter as much in a planted tank? Or is there something else I should be doing?
Help appreciated
Andy

 

[ian]

In a word...No, if i remember rightly your tank is quite heavily planted isn't it. You plants will help utilise all the detritus.

edit the pic is in your sig, lol.

 

[Proxo]

I've always wondered how people went about cleaning a heavy planted tank, i've never had real plants in a tank yet but i'm thinking of doing it once i can be bothered to read up a little knowledge on them!! I've got some decent kinda real looking fake plants but obv real is better

 

[Piti]

So it's just going to happen in the heavily planted tank that your Silica sand will eventually look like tahiti black sand? (poop sand)

 

[Andy-lee]

Cheers ianho the sig picture is a old one now I need to udate it along with me thread. Even more of the gravel its coverd in plants now so its almost impossible to vac, just wonders if there was going to be any consequences of this and if there was what I should do.
Cheers
Andy

 

[myrtle]

What I tend to do is 'waft' my hand quite hard over the base of the plants, especially the mosses (with the filter off), which lifts a lot of the detritus into the water column. This then gets removed during the water change. Obviously some gets left behind as I'm only changing half the water but that'll be used by the plants.