Gravel vacuuming with live plants

[Divinityinlove]

I've watched a few videos from one person on YouTube and he was saying it is still important to vacuum gravel even if you have plants. But, don't you then take away all the nutrients for the plants? I'm wondering if that could be the reason my plants are doing less well than before, I started vacuuming only months ago.

Please share your experience.

 

[itiwhetu]

I have never vacuumed a tank. As long as you have a gravel base let the plants deal with the waste, they will do a great job of keeping your tank clean

 

[Divinityinlove]

I have never vacuumed a tank. As long as you have a gravel base let the plants deal with the waste, they will do a great job of keeping your tank clean

I also just read that nitrates should not show as 0 in the tank since plants need the nitrates. Thoughts on this?

 

[itiwhetu]

I also just read that nitrates should not show as 0 in the tank since plants need the nitrates. Thoughts on this?

I always aim to have zero nitrates, nitrites and ammonia in my tanks. Aquatic plants are weeds and need very little to survive.

 

[Essjay]

Aquatic plants use ammonia in preference to nitrate - they only turn to nitrate if there's no ammonia available. In aquatic gardens with perhaps a few fish, yes it may be necessary to add nitrate, but for most of us who have fish tanks with plants the fish provide enough ammonia for the plants.

 

[itiwhetu]

I love my tank, because I have no light hood or artificial light to speak of, every time I try and get a photo all I get is reflections

 

[Colin_T]

Gravel clean open areas. Leave 2-3 inches around the base of plants and don't gravel clean within that 2-3 inch area. If you have big sword plants, leave 3-4 inches around the base that doesn't get gravel cleaned, because they have big root systems.

 

[StevenF]

I also just read that nitrates should not show as 0 in the tank since plants need the nitrates. Thoughts on this?

Plant need nitrogen, nitrogen can be in the form of ammonia, reel, amino acids and nitrate. Only nitrate will show up in a nitrate test. Only ammonia will show up in an ammonia tests. Ammino acids and urea will not show up in any test. So there are multiple sources of nitrogen in tanks and you cannot determine the total amount of Nitrogen in your tank.

So if you have minimal fish load you likely have little to no ammonia, urea, and amino acid. If so the plants will turn to nitrate for their nitrogen. If the fish load is high you likely have enough ammonia, urea, and amino acids so the plants may not touch any nitrate you have. IN my fertilized shrimp tank I prefer to have some nitrate pressent. If it goes to zero I know my plants used it up and more is needed.