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Gravel Vacuuming

GetItSahn

Fish Crazy
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Every time I vacuum my gravel (every water change, once a week) there is SO MUCH stuff that get stirred up. It's usually white floating specks that look almost like mold. Or if I ever move any decorations or plants in my tank it almost becomes to thick to even see my fish. After about an hour it settles. I usually use a product called Accu-Clear which clumps the particles but I don't know why it keeps happening. I have cut back on feeding because i thought overfeeding was the problem. No matter how well i vacuum it, it's back there again the next time. 
 
Is it from overfeeding? Should I try feeding once every other day until the problem is under control? Is this a side effect of being a newly established tank? I had 2 moss balls but added another and some java moss hoping they would collect debris.
 
All opinions are appreciated and thank you for your time.
 
How long has your tank been runing for and did you cycle it for a few weeks before adding fish?
New tanks often go cloudy while they are cycling and although it might settle and go clear, cleaning your gravel will stir it up again but it depends on how old your tank is wether or not this is applicable to you.
 
Here's a video on how to gravel-vac your tank - a lot of people don't do it right.
 
You can skip to about 2:00 in the video to miss the "sales pitch" and ignore the bit at the end about maintenance lol, sorry not the best video I guess but they show the technique well.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Re04cYJcY
 
If you do this until you stop getting dirt out of the gravel, you'll have less mess at the end of the water changes. It may take a few changes over time to get the build up down, depending on how much stuff is in the gravel already. Also don't use that particle collector stuff whatever it is in your tank, there's really no need for it as it will settle on it's own in time and is just hiding a problem that you can easily sort on your own
smile.png
 
Fishyworld said:
How long has your tank been runing for and did you cycle it for a few weeks before adding fish?
New tanks often go cloudy while they are cycling and although it might settle and go clear, cleaning your gravel will stir it up again but it depends on how old your tank is wether or not this is applicable to you.
It cycled for two weeks, and has been running with fish for a month and a half. So i guess two months total
Alm0stAwesome said:
Here's a video on how to gravel-vac your tank - a lot of people don't do it right.
 
You can skip to about 2:00 in the video to miss the "sales pitch" and ignore the bit at the end about maintenance lol, sorry not the best video I guess but they show the technique well.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Re04cYJcY
 
If you do this until you stop getting dirt out of the gravel, you'll have less mess at the end of the water changes. It may take a few changes over time to get the build up down, depending on how much stuff is in the gravel already. Also don't use that particle collector stuff whatever it is in your tank, there's really no need for it as it will settle on it's own in time and is just hiding a problem that you can easily sort on your own
smile.png
That's the video i watched to teach myself how to vacuum lol
I'll stop using the collector stuff, it makes it look better but gives me a false sense that the problem is fixed.
I'm trying to cut back on feeding significantly 
 
Yeah the white stuff may be food now that I think about it.  I suggest only feeding once a day and only as much as they can eat in 2-3 minutes :)
 
i just copied that vid and got loads of crap out :) cheers 
 
i do need a bigger pump though .
 
cheers d 
 
I'm glad it helped. :) I've got sand now but when I had gravel I found it so satisfying to clean the gravel like that, felt like you were really doing something lol
 

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