Vacuuming gravel

[ostrow]

Ok, so even with a planted tank you still have to clean the gravel of waste periodically with water changes. Any trick to doing this without uprooting the plants???

Any way to get near the plants without messing things up?

 

[Great Lakes]

Good question Ostow. I have never had trouble just vacuuming around them. If you had some real wee ones, you might want to avoid them till they are strong. But just a little care will get you through it all right!

And don't fret, I am sure Rose will chip in with some sage advice.

 

[Rose]

What I do when I need to get some gunk out of the gravel in my planted tanks is I clean the filter real good. Hook it back up run it for a few minutes then I stir the gravel a bit to get the gunk to float so the filter can get it and I drain the water at the same time. I do that because there are a lot of places where the plants are too close together for me to get the hose inbetween them. If I can I just vaccum the gravel real lightly and call it good. I don't get the gravel real clean, I leave a lot of it there. The plants use it to grow. Rose

 

[Great Lakes]

Actually, if you don't clean your gravel at all, and throw in a beer can or two, it starts to look like a real lake bottom!

Just kidding!!

But I have been known to stick lures and such in my driftwood.

 

[ostrow]

GL, I take one of those little souvenier baseball bats, tie a string to it, put a hook at the end of the string, a worm on the hook, and drop that in the tank and do some fishing!

 

[Great Lakes]

Hope you do catch and release..

 

[Rose]

:laugh: :laugh: