Planted Tanks

[FishBazzar]

In a tank with plants everywhere do you need to vacuum? I heard that you should never disturb roots and if there are lots and lots of plants not doing this is impossible if you plan to vac. Will the plant roots make use of all the extra food and poo in the gravel, essentially cleaning it for you? I have seen pictures of tanks where there are tons of plants and then to fill in any gaps people have these little plants covering all the gravel floor.

 

[Inchworm]

Great question, FishBazzar.

I've seen pictures like that, too. Those tanks are so beautiful. But just how do they clean them? It's hard enough to clean a tank with only a few plants but I can't believe that they would not clean those heavily planted ones.

I hope someone can tell us the answer.

 

[Alien Anna]

I think the answer is: Compost.

Basically, if you have sufficient plants everything on the substrate will rot down and get used up by the plants. But I suspect you need a heck of a lot of plants and a lot of light, plus CO2 to make this work. That is my eventual plan so I'll tell you how it goes - Stage 2 of the plan happens this week when I get my high power light fitting.

 

[The_Budmaster]

I know my tanks are nothing like the huge planted lawns that you're talking about but i reckon they're still pretty heavily planted tanks & the smaller one is starting to get a bit of the lawn effect going on it now. I vacum once a week when i do water changes, if you just hold the vac just on the surface of the gravel then it picks up the worst of the scum just fine.

I know some people with planted tanks & they never gravel vacum but their tanks are doing great B)

 

[Lithril]

Looks good mate.
Will and try and get a pic of my 10 gal on here.

 

[Inchworm]

That's a beautiful tank, Budmaster.

Do you think a heavily planted yet lightly vacumed tank can support a normal load of fish? How about bottom feeders?

 

[Alien Anna]

That's a beautiful tank, Budmaster.

Do you think a heavily planted yet lightly vacumed tank can support a normal load of fish? How about bottom feeders?

Plants support fish since they give off oxygen and use up nitrates and ammonia. Obviously there is an issue of space - you do have less swimming space if you have more plants. There is also the issue of invisible fish - you don't see fish in a heavily planted tank as there are many places to hide. But personally I love looking into the jungle!

 

[AquaNut]

My tanks are all fairly heavily planted. I don't use CO2 and certainly don't have good lighting conditions (less than 1 watt per gallon in most of my tanks, and they're really old tubes, too lol). I think the main reason my plants grow so well despite the poor lighting is the fact that I don't vacuum very much. I do leave some bare, open spots in my tanks so that there's always somewhere to swim in open water, and I usually drop the algae or shrimp tablets/wafers in those areas. When I do a water change, I will vacuum a little bit in those bare spots where I know I've put lots of sinking foods. I totally leave the planted areas (most of the tank) alone. I use mostly hob filters, and don't add extra aeration, except in one heavily stocked tank, where I turn on one airstone at night. My nitrates are always super low, and my fish are very healthy. As Anna said, the plants use all the mulm as fertilizer. Btw, I don't add any chemical fertilizers, either.

 

[Rose]

You do need to vaccum the planted tanks as well as the non planted tanks. Its just a little bit trickier to do with a planted tank. Get your bucket (or python) and very gently run the vaccum tube end over the plants and gravel. Don't stick the tube in the gravel you will damage the roots. Just run it across the top of the gravel and you'll get the big stuff up.

Rose

 

[AquaNut]

I'm curious to know why you think they need to be vacuumed? Mine have been running quite healthily for years with practically no vacuuming at all. I do occasionally give the visible gravel a stir. If it's so densely planted that you can't see the gravel, the roots are keeping the gravel aerated, guaranteed.

 

[Rose]

If you have plecos in your tank they make big nasties. With the way I have mine set up it settles on the plants and looks quite nasty. That's why I vaccume mine. The other reason if you get a big enough layer of detridus (sp) it can turn the tank toxic. Alot of people stock their tanks heavily with fish (even planted ones). It helps keep things in check.

Rose

 

[Inchworm]

But personally I love looking into the jungle!

I do too, Alien Anna.

But when I asked if such a tank could support a regular amount of fish I was more concerned about a buildup of chemicals from unremoved waste at the bottom. Corys, for example are especially effected by this.

I don't think any old plant will produce the effect you mentioned of using up nitrates and ammonia. I believe that they have to be established and growing to do this. I once had a tank with saggitaria (sp?) that was like this. During the day tiny bubbles would come up from the plants in a fine line. The plants bloomed for me, too--tiny white flowers. That was really beautiful.

Thinking about that tank makes me want to go for a heavy planting again. Hmmm

 

[gadazobe]

I'm more with Aquanut with my well planted tank. I vacuum lightly over the open spaces. I do find that my fish "rearrange" the substrate to their liking and I'm forever covering up the roots of my plants where some of the bottom dwellers have burrowed into the gravel (it's a very fine gravel - about one up from sand) and exposed the roots. The plants don't seem to mind - they're growing well - but it just makes extra work for me.

 

[odjbo]

I have a 300 L heavily planted tank, and I bought 30 Cardina Japonica (Amano Shrimp). I have actually seen them eating 'poo' !

Right from day 1, NO3/2 and NH4 have been minimal. It is the natural properties of biological filtration keeping them at bay.

Some, aquatic extremists use a heavily planted, brightly lit sumps, for the excellent filtration properties that plants possess.

However, for 'spot' cleaning, I use a length of 'air-tubing' to remove any unsightly waste that has settled on my lawn !



D.

 

[aquamanis]

I purchased a gravel vacum last week even though I didn,t think I would need it as my tank is fairly well planted. This morning while doing a waterchange I used the gravel cleaner for the first time since setting up my tank (its about 10 weeks old) All I can say is WOW, I thought the gravel looked clean but everytime I stuck the cleaner in the gravel a big black cloud of gunk went through the tubing and into the bucket. Normally when I do a waterchange the colour of the old water is a transparent brown but this time it was absolutely black like mud. I,ll put up with the odd plant coming loose after I saw what came out of the gravel!