How to clean substrate in planted aquariums?

[Angie J]

Hi,
I've recently brought a 40 litre, already planted fish tank off gumtree (Australian buy and sell website, kinda like eBay only more local). It is a very heavily planted fish tank, that has 5 guppies (all male) and 1 fry (also a guppy) and is also infested with tiny snails (yikes I know, but I brought it like that and don't know how to deal with it, although it doesn't seem to really upset the tank). The levels of my fish tank are quite goof with my pH being around 6.3 and ammonia being reasonably close to 0. Anyway, the plants and substrate seem to get really dirty with algae and fish poop. I was wondering if there was a way to clean the substrate and plants without upsetting the already formed ecosystem? Also what do I do about the poop that isn't being sucked into the filter?


A picture of the tank is attached.

thanks for any replies,
Angie

 

[NickAu]

Want my advice? Clean the front glass as needed change 70% of the water once a week leave the rest alone.

The snails are Malaysian trumpet snails, anybody who tells you to get rid of them hasnt got a clue about keeping a planted tank.

my pH being around 6.3

That could be a problem with Guppies they like hard water.

 

[Angie J]

Want my advice? Clean the front glass as needed change 70% of the water once a week leave the rest alone.

The snails are Malaysian trumpet snails, anybody who tells you to get rid of them hasnt got a clue about keeping a planted tank.


That could be a problem with Guppies they like hard water.

Okay, thank you so much. So I don't really need to get into the substrate and clean it and this won't affect the guppies? Also, what are some ways in which I can raise the pH?

 

[Colin_T]

snails are a pita in my opinion. However, in a tank with livebearers they won't cause any problems. But if you ever try to breed egg laying fishes then you don't want snails.

If you post a pic of the snails we can identify them for you.

If you get a gravel cleaner, you can move it across the surface of the gravel and it will suck up and remove the fish waste and sediment that is not being picked up by the filter. The following link has a basic gravel cleaner that would do the job. Get something similar to it. You don't need a fancy model, just a syphon hose and the gravel cleaner tube.
http://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

You can add shell, limestone or dead coral skeleton to raise the pH. Add a small bag of shell or crushed coral to a filter compartment if you have a power filter, or simply put a few limestone rocks in the tank. They are all calcium carbonate and will raise the pH a bit. You will have to monitor the pH over a few weeks to work out exactly how much you need.

You can also buy a Rift Lake water conditioner in a powder form. Then use it at 1/3 to 1/2 strength. It will raise the pH, GH & KH.

 

[Angie J]

snails are a pita in my opinion. However, in a tank with livebearers they won't cause any problems. But if you ever try to breed egg laying fishes then you don't want snails.

If you post a pic of the snails we can identify them for you.

If you get a gravel cleaner, you can move it across the surface of the gravel and it will suck up and remove the fish waste and sediment that is not being picked up by the filter. The following link has a basic gravel cleaner that would do the job. Get something similar to it. You don't need a fancy model, just a syphon hose and the gravel cleaner tube.
http://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

You can add shell, limestone or dead coral skeleton to raise the pH. Add a small bag of shell or crushed coral to a filter compartment if you have a power filter, or simply put a few limestone rocks in the tank. They are all calcium carbonate and will raise the pH a bit. You will have to monitor the pH over a few weeks to work out exactly how much you need.

You can also buy a Rift Lake water conditioner in a powder form. Then use it at 1/3 to 1/2 strength. It will raise the pH, GH & KH.

okay, thank you so much. I feel like a gravel cleaner would be too hard to use in such a heavily planted aquarium, and I also have little cherry shrimp that I don't want to get sucked up.

And about the pH, I have a powder pH neutraliser that I've added to my aquarium.

Also heres the picture of the snail, they're all that size.

 

[Colin_T]

The gravel cleaner does not have to be pushed into the gravel. You can simply move it around the tank and suck the lose debris off the surface of the gravel, to minimise disturbing the plant roots.

A properly designed gravel cleaner, like the one in the link, has a low pressure vacuum around the intake to reduce the chance of sucking fish or shrimp up. In addition to that, most fish and shrimp will move away from the gravel cleaner when you use it. Some fish don't and you occasionally get curious fish swim into the vacuum part. If that happens you kink the siphon hose and let the fish swim out, then continue cleaning.

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The snail could be a baby mystery snail or a type of pond snail. Squish em all, bwa ha ha ha, evil laughter
You can keep them or squash them, the choice is yours.

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Try not to use commercial pH regulators. They are usually sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) designed to increase the pH, or sodium biphosphate designed to lower the pH. They do work quickly but do not hold the pH over time. If you want to bring the pH up and have it stabile then use something like "rift lake water condition" (available from petshops) at dose described in previous post, to increase the general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) of the water. These are minerals like calcium and magnesium that remain dissolved in the water and slowly react with acids in the water, thus stabilising the pH.

Shells, coral skeleton or limestone is calcium carbonate and does the same thing. Acids in the water react with the calcium and is neutralised, thus stabilising the pH.

 

[NickAu]

In addition to that, most fish and shrimp will move away from the gravel cleaner when you use it

You know I am cleaning my tanks because all you can hear is me yelling " get out of the way dopey ", even my Kuhli loaches love to play around the gravel vac. and as for shrimp.