How thoroughly do you clean your gravel ?

[Rob_G]

....with many rocks, bogwood and especially plants in my tank I find it hard to hoover the gravel except for in the front of the tank where it is bare and free from obstruction.

Am I suppose to take everything out of the tank including pulling up the plants and hoover thoroughly every few months and then just between the gaps on a weekly basis ?

Thanks

 

[jflowers]

You should never hoover all your gravel in one go as it will remove lots of good bacteria (its not all in your filter), so its ok to just hoover different sections each time.

Jon

 

[gadazobe]

Don't pull up any plants - they use all the goop on the bottom of the tank. In my heavily planted tank I only hoover the bottom every now and then (about every 4-6 weeks) and then only slightly. Just clean up the open spaces and do regular water changes.

 

[Griz]

I alternate cleaning different sections of the tank. In my case I do one half at a time. I will gently move peices of driftwood that aren't attached to a slate base and I leave the ones that are. I try to spend a bit more time around rocks, the base of plants, corners, anywhere that debris accumulates. Next time I vacuum, I do the other side. With the gravel tanks I had in the past I found it neccessary to be a bit more aggressive when vacuuming since debris tended to get deeper into the substrate. My current tank has sand and I am finding that I only have to vacuum down about a 1/2 inch at most. The crud pretty much just sits on the top and doesn't get down deep as it does with gravel. Bear in mind that this is a planted tank so I'm also being carefull not to disturb the roots anyway.

 

[CFC]

To prevent dirt from getting under the decor push all the decor right into the substrate so that it is sitting on the base of the tank, this way you only need to vacume up to and around the decor and dont have to worry how much gunk is trapped.

 

[jflowers]

Sorry, didn't see the bit about pulling up plants. As said, dont do that, just carefully hoover around them and not deep enough to damage roots.


Jon

 

[astroboy]

You should never hoover all your gravel in one go as it will remove lots of good bacteria (its not all in your filter), so its ok to just hoover different sections each time.

Jon

True, the good bacteria isn't all in your filter, but is massively concentrated in the filter. Giving the gravel a good vacuum will not cause a mini cycle. I thoroughly gravel vac all my gravel every week.

The filter medias surface area is gigantic compared to the gravel, as well as having much better water flow. Don't worry about how well you gravel vac, bit its a little different with heavily planted tanks.

 

[jflowers]

True, the good bacteria isn't all in your filter, but is massively concentrated in the filter. Giving the gravel a good vacuum will not cause a mini cycle. I thoroughly gravel vac all my gravel every week.

The filter medias surface area is gigantic compared to the gravel, as well as having much better water flow. Don't worry about how well you gravel vac, bit its a little different with heavily planted tanks.

Granted and I fully agree, but how do you account for some members using no filter and relying solely on the gravel? [EDIT: personaly I over filter]

Jon

 

[aqtaquaman]

Try using a turkey baster to blow jets of water into the nooks and crannies, then with the other hand have the syphon nose just over the area you blasted and suck up the detris cloud.

 

[astroboy]

Granted and I fully agree, but how do you account for some members using no filter and relying solely on the gravel? [EDIT: personaly I over filter]

Jon

Yes, people do that, but in most cases it is a very heavily planted (jungle) tank, that is very lightly stocked, and has fairly good water movement.

 

[Rob_G]

Thanks all for you help. Much appreciated.

Rob

P.s. - Just had my python cleaner delivered today - it's great !!! I added the water conditioner before i refilled with the new tap water - is this ok ?

 

[modernhamlet]

Thanks all for you help. Much appreciated.

Rob

P.s. - Just had my python cleaner delivered today - it's great !!! I added the water conditioner before i refilled with the new tap water - is this ok ?

Yep, that's just fine.

Pythons are a wonderful invention, especially for bigger tanks.