Ug Filter Gravel Cleaning

[krishanu]

i have a ten gallon aq (refer to sig) that runs on a ug filter. i have had it for nearly a year now, and havent till date cleaned the gravel completely.

how often should i do it?

can anybody suggest an easy way to do it, cos i find it very messy, especially since i dont have any other place to put my fish.

and wouldnt complete cleaning kill off the bacteria essential to the nitrogen cycle?

 

[Gnatfish]

I've never had a under gravel filter.

But I've never totally cleaned the gravel, i don't think you have to. Just vacuuming it every water change is enough i think.

Also, i think that it would muck up your biological filteration in the gravel.

 

[Liam]

Yeah you don’t want to over clean it all in one go, if you have a gravel vac just plunge it into it and enough muck will come out or failing that stir it up in one place at a time to expose the filter plate and suck up the muck with a water change. Next water change, do the same thing again. As long as it’s kept so that the water can move freely through it it’s clean enough.