Maintenance

[stonedcamel]

hello,

was looking round at everyones tanks and fish etc and they are very nice but what i was thinking was......

how do you clean the gravel/sand around the bogwood/ornaments? what i mean is, do you move the bogwood and clean underneath and or leave it to gather the dirt etc!! also and at the back of the tank when you have all the plants.

just curious as to how other people do it or if you leave it?

 

[helterskelter]

depending on the size affects what you do.

i like to use small pleco to do most of the cleaning for me
weekly water changes of 20-30%
rocks can be cleaned but take a lot of work
Gravel/Sand can be cleaned using a simple gravel vac which. You do this when changing the water.

 

[stonedcamel]

i have a bristlenose and everytime i do a waterchange i use the gravel vac and clean as much as possible, im asking what people do under the bits of bogwood and at the back of planted tanks instead of disturbing it all.

i moved a bit of bogwood last weekend and the stuff that came out the gravel was horrible, just wondering what other people do because some of them tanks i have seen are lovely and i wouldnt want to disturb them

 

[holidayinn]

I have a similar problem with the waste that I find under my bogwood and rocks, normally I lift them up ever so slightly and try to gravel vac asap so that the waste doesn't disperse. I dont have any real plants so dont have that problem, but would be interested to hear how ppl deal with waste build up in a heavily planted tank, maybe vac using a hosepipe just above the substrate surface?

 

[drobbyb]

Most people simply leave it in a heavily planted tank. It serves as a free source of fertilizer for the plants.

 

[stonedcamel]

so all the dirt under the bogwood and at the back i shud leave? and just clean what i can?

 

[stonedcamel]

bump

 

[stonedcamel]

 

[jourdy288]

You should clean some of it, particularly if you have corydoras, or loaches, which dig through the substrate, however, some does make good fertilizer.

 

[stonedcamel]

still no one?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi stonedcamel

Just lift the wood up and vacuum under it. Push the end down into the gravel to get it all. If you do it regularly, it will not be so bad. There's not a lot you can do with a densely planted area, but do whatever you can.

If you think the accumulation of debris is excessive, you might want to check the ingredients in the food you are giving them. If it has a grain as one of the main ingredients, try a different brand. Wardley's shrimp pellets are a good example of this.

 

[nosoup4you]

I vac pretty lazily in my planted tank. I usually just go over the surface to remove excess debris. Every once in awhile, I do remove some rock and wood and vacuum underneath.