Morning People - A Quick Substrate Question Please

[stuhyde]

Hi all,

Got my tank all sorted, has been going for nearly a year now I reckon, no problems at all.

My substrate (gravel) is very dirty, what is the best way to clean this? Can I use my vacuum I use for my water changes?
I tied with the idea of putting all the fish into a massive bucket (with about 50% of the water (125litre tank)) and then just blitzing the water in the tank, and putting 50% fresh in again as well as the 50% including fish, after the substrate is nearly clean, but have read that there is beneficial bacteria even in the tank as well as the filter media.

So any thoughts on what I can do, its not causing a problem, just looks mucky lol

MANY THANKS

 

[orange shark]

I just move the gravel around a bit when using the vaccum to get all the dirty bits out

 

[stuhyde]

Cheers for the reply, yeh I was gonna do that, but then heard not best to do that???

Might do that anyway, and just keep the water at about 50% while my partner does the gravel vaccing.
She's good with a hoover you know, and a cooker, and the sink

 

[raptorrex]

the trick i use is to, every so often,is to wave my hand over the substrate. this stirs up any food and dirt. the food gets eaten by the fish and a large part of the "gunk" gets pulled thorough the filter. the only vacing i do is the little that happen when i do water changes

 

[stuhyde]

Yeh did that last time, although I drained like 50% of the water and rubbed my hand through the substrate.

Lets just say the fish werent particularly visible after that

 

[raptorrex]

Yeh did that last time, although I drained like 50% of the water and rubbed my hand through the substrate.

Lets just say the fish werent particularly visible after that

lol yep the water looks like hell but it last only a short time.