Planted Tank - Issues With Vaccuming - Do I Have To Start Over?

[puskas]

Hi guys,

my tank is getting up nicely, it's 260l / 70 gal and have a lot of plants in it.
I have 2w/gal lighting and no CO2 added. I have gravel heating and special sand below the gravel substrate to support the plants.
Now I see the issue that I can not vacuum the gravel any more because of the plants.
The issue is that I have 2mm black basalt gravel as substrate and I've read somewhere that gravel has to be vacuumed, otherwise the waste will poison the tank.

The tank is up now for 3 months and I have:
4 sterba's cory
4 pitbull pleco
1 peral gourami
10 cardinal tetra
5 mollies
10 amano shrimp
2 siamese algae eater
1 apple snail
a few malaysian trumpet snails

Water quality is good but I have the feeling that the cories start to have an issue with the gravel not being clean enough.
Up to 1 month ago I was vacuuming it but now I can't do it any more without destroying the plants.

I would appreciate your advice on this. Can I keep the tank as is with adding a few more snails to move the gravel around more?

I am also concerned that maybe I should not add any more fish to the aquarium but now it still looks a bit low on fish.

Thanks,
Puskas

 

[Pixietina]

with my tank i tend to run the vaccum over the plants but not dig it in as you would with the gravel. hope this is some help xxxxx

 

[roadmaster]

I might add some more trumpet snails. I have an 80 gallon tank which is heavily planted ,low light,non CO2, and have yet to vaccum the substrate since setting the tank up in July of this year.I have Trumpet snails,cory's,tetra's,barbs,bristlenose,and one Lone bolivian ram.Not much in my view accumulates on the substrate that plants cannot use,and snails keep the gravel aerated as well as contributing to plant growth from the waste(poop) that they create.
Pitbull plecos as you may have noted,,are very industrious and they thrive on the mulm and bacterial slime if you will, while buisly turning over pebble after pebble while foraging.
Water changes should help keep the water clean ,as well as preventing organic breakdown from creating possibly too acidic conditions depending on GH,KH of water used for changes.
I add dry fertilizers along with flourish comprehensive plant supplement every couple weeks to once a month, depending on growth of plants and have yet to see any problems with forgoing the gravel vaccuming.Should I decide to vaccum at some point,, I might remove the large end from my python or gravel syphon and the smaller end would make getting around in between plant's a bit easier while not disturbing the roots of plant's.
Would not shove the vaccum down into the gravel, but suck up what is laying about on top if I felt the need.

 

[puskas]

thanks guys for the help!

do you think that I might get away using gravel in this setup?
somewhere I've read that I should have used sand for such a heavy planted setup where vacuuming is not really possible

I will add than more malaysian snails and hope for the best

thanks,
puskas

 

[jpeterson]

Why not add some clean up crew? Corys!!! Add about 5 corys and they will help. Also I never hoover it as the plants love all the fish waste which is what you remove when you hoover!

 

[roadmaster]

thanks guys for the help!

do you think that I might get away using gravel in this setup?
somewhere I've read that I should have used sand for such a heavy planted setup where vacuuming is not really possible

I will add than more malaysian snails and hope for the best

thanks,
puskas

My tank is Eco -complete capped with approx three inches of small pea gravel I purchased from landscaping store.

 

[myrtle]

Basically there is no need to vac a planted tank at all. I've had mine set up for 2+ years and have never vac'ed once. The closest I come is during a water change whilst the filters are off I'll waft the surface of the substrate with my hand to bring up and large pieces of debris etc and suck it up with the siphon tube. In a CO2 injected tank the plants will use almost all the waste for food and the rest will decompose and be used at some time or another. Obviouslyif you have a large leaf that's dying off you'd remove it but any fish waste/uneaten food will be used by the plants. To be honest your Amano shrimp probably clear the majority of it for you!

 

[puskas]

thanks for the comments
I will leave it than and maybe add a few more cories.

It looks so nice now I really would not start over unless it's hopeless.

puskas