How Do I Clean Fluval Shrimp Substrate?

[abbiebrown]

Hello..


I've got fluval stratum substrate in my shrimp tank which is great but i'm unsure of the best way to clean it....when I do my water changes I get all the bubbles out but end up just making mucky water....the gravel cleaner just sucks it up (as you would expect) but then it just cloggs up the end...

Any ideas? or maybe your not supposed to clean it like that?

thanks!

 

[Westwood]

I had similar stuff in the Fluval flora, I never found out a way to clean it. I have just changed to sand as I hated the brown water and how it clogged up the filter.

 

[abbiebrown]

really?...puft...don't really want to change it again....all my shrimp have had babies since I put it in there, so it must be doing something good....

 

[Caprichoso]

Hello..


I've got fluval stratum substrate in my shrimp tank which is great but i'm unsure of the best way to clean it....when I do my water changes I get all the bubbles out but end up just making mucky water....the gravel cleaner just sucks it up (as you would expect) but then it just cloggs up the end...

Any ideas? or maybe your not supposed to clean it like that?

thanks!

You are not supposed to clean it or disturb it for that matter because it breaks down easily. It is meant to be removed and changed out with fresh stuff after a year or two. It is nice gravel for shrimp but the fact that you can't clean it, to me, is problematic, as you will undoubtably have outbreaks of planaria. It is also expensive to have to replace every year. I have it in all of my shrimp tanks and my shrimp are breeding like mad so that makes me want to keep adding it to the tank but I don't like not being able to clean the substrate in my breeding tanks. I haven't decided whether or not I will change the substrate to something else or not.

 

[abbiebrown]

I see, thanks for the info, I'll see how I go with it...best of luck with yours