Tank Cleanliness

[Irf]

Hi all,

I have had an african cichlid tank now for about two years, with two plecs in it as well. I started out with lots and lots of rocks and cobbles and a small amount of bogwood on a bed of sand, but quickly thinned out the ornaments because I couldn't clean the tank properly. I found that with so many decorations/obstacles the fish waste and nibbled bodwood was not getting taken up into the filter intakes. The only way I could get rid of the waste was to gravel-vac it out.

Many of the "perfect tank" pics Ive seen have lots and lots of rocks in them, so I'm wondering what I am doing wrong. Can someone please advise? I currently only have two large rocks and a piece of wood in there, and it's looking quite bare. Even with large expanses of sand the waste just lies on the bottom of the tank.

The two filters I have are Eheim 2224.

Thanks for any advise you can offer.

Irf.

 

[maximinimus]

People gravel-vac all the waste up, dont be lazy

 

[Corleone]

You're not doing anything wrong, the fish poop doesn't get taken up the filters most of the time, just about all of us are forced to vacuum it up.

 

[Irf]

Oh, OK then. I kind of thought that either clever filter positioning or some other bit of kit that I didn't yet have was necessary. Does that mean that with lots of large rocks in place those really great looking tanks would constantly be shifted around so that all the gaps could be hoovered? I always seemed to have loads of fish poo in between rocks etc. and the only way to get it out was to take them out or move them around.

Irf.