How often to vacuum?

EMdina

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Upstate NY
Just curious how often the gravel should be vacuumed...I do the weekly, sometimes twice weekly, water changes...but, stumped on the gravel...
 
I did it weekly, nowadays monthly -> Im going to change gravel to sand, because I don't like to vacuum gravel.. Pah!

Do it monthly atleast.. Gravel can become blocked if you don't vacuum it enough. And when it's totally blocked, fishes could die (toxic compounds).

Sand can become blocked too, but the diffence is that s*it etc cannot go inside bottom like in gravel.
 
Thanks...guess I better get vacuuming...
Since you mentioned sand- how does one go about cleaning that? Or don't you have to...have been wondering about that...I like the look of sand better than gravel, but it just looks like it would make things more difficult...
E
 
I got a vacuum/syphon for when i do water changes and if I actually took the time to vacuum the entire gravel I would empty out my tank! Wish I could slow this syphon thingie down. :/
 
When you vacume the gravel, just do an up and down motion with it. You don't have to leave it in one place for very long. If you need to, just vacume half of the tank at one water change and do the other half next time. As long as you remember what you are doing it will be fine.

Or, you could try holding your finger partway over the bottom end to slow the flow out thereby slowing down the suction at the sucking end.
 
how do you clean sand.. i was wondering the same thing, cause i like the look of sand a lot better, but is it ok for fresh water, and guppys, platties, african dwarf frogs, neons, and dwarf puffers?
 
PrObLeM_ChIlD said:
how do you clean sand.. i was wondering the same thing, cause i like the look of sand a lot better, but is it ok for fresh water, and guppys, platties, african dwarf frogs, neons, and dwarf puffers?
You clean the sand by holding it a few inches above the sand (or as low as you have to go to suction it up). It all stays right on top so it's easier to clean than gravel.

Sand would be fine for those fish. :)
 
Ill be redoing my 55g soon. Almost have all me deco for the tank. My choice for the substrait is the black tahition moon sand. At 20 bucks for a 20 pound bag, its gonna be awhile before I get my 60 pounds. Maybe Ill save a few bucks and mix it with regular black gravel. Nah.
 

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