Gravel Vaccuming. How Often.?

[piranha_tim]

Gravel Vaccuming. How often.?

Gravel vaccuming is one of the most stressful "common" activities for fish.

I have been gravel vaccuming once a week while I do water changes.

Am I just going over board or is this sound about right?

 

[kewskills]

I do it once a week also

 

[Ian H]

I don't at all. Never been a problem for me but i do have alot of plants.

Most people gravel vac when they do a water change so your fine

 

[dpcamp]

I only gravel vac my tank w/o substrate. My tank with substrate i run the vacuum over the gravel just to pick up any waste. But i do both once a week.

 

[clivealive]

i do water change each week, clean 50% of gravel each time.
find i have enough water out after cleaning half the tank (4 ft)
clivealive

 

[piranha_tim]

i do water change each week, clean 50% of gravel each time.
find i have enough water out after cleaning half the tank (4 ft)
clivealive

100% the same

 

[OldMan47]

I have been doing a very deep vac on about 1/3 of my substrate with each water change. It lets me get that part of the substrate quite clean while preventing a buildup on the bottom. By rotating to different parts of the substrate, I don't ever remove all of the bacteria in the substrate at any one time.

 

[piranha_tim]

I ram the vacuum right into the gravel to the bottom ... 50% at a time.

 

[kj23502]

I vaccum almost all of the tank everytime I do waterchanges. I do wc about every 2 weeks. My tanks are lightly stocked. Oh and I ram it to the bottom on my gravel tank and on the other I try to skim it on the top of the sand...although I still get some sand sucked up into it Drives me crazy. I may go w/a heavier substrate on my downgrade tank.

 

[piranha_tim]

Oh boy sand is fun ha ha

 

[Ficious]

i guess i do them more often than i thought! everytime i do a water change (3-4 times a week) i vaccum the bottom, i only take out about 3 inches (water) at a time, so i vaccum a different area each time.

 

[kj23502]

3-4 times a week is alot Ficious!!