How often should i clean gravel?

[G_Sharky]

Do you any of you guys/gals vacuum your gravel every time you change the water?

 

[freshwatergal]

Not every time. You should only clean your gravel about once a month. Can be less depending on the types of fish and how much you feed them.

Tiff

 

[Tolak]

I usually do a light cleaning every week to get rid of the surface debris. Every other week I do a deeper cleaning on one half of the tank. Deeper cleaning meaning down to about 3/4" to 1", and moving rocks and plants. This is also dependant on if, and what kind, of filter maintainance I may do. I avoid doing a deep cleaning of the gravel and a media change in the filters in the same week. This means the gravel gets totally cleaned once a month, and surface cleaned weekly to keep it looking good.

Tolak

 

[Dragonslair]

This may be totally wrong and its not a question of do what i do or even say. I just know this works for me. I have an established tank that is now in it's 6th year and I have over 100 various fish. The tank is 60 inches long and 18" wide with a depth of 24". I vacuum the surface about once every 6 months, but I do use a weekly treatment of "Aquarium Clean" from Aquamarine. It is a dried powder that is bacteria based and it cleans and helps decompose fish matter that has been trapped by the gravel and the filter cannot reach. I find it extremely effective. The plants do the rest of the job. My water quality is always perfect and crystal clear.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

I vaccum every time. Why would I want fish filth in my tank if I can get it out? Why should I let it break down in my tank and add to the nitrate levels when I can simply remove it? There is enough waste in the places that I can't reach, I will certainly get rid of it in places that I can.

 

[guppymonkey]

I do water changes on my tanks at least a couple times a week changing about 10-25% every time. I always clean the gravel with the vacuum. I think of it as flushing the toilet. It would be gross to only flush the toilet once a month and I think it would be gross to only clean my gravel once a month.

 

[Auratus]

I think it depends on the fish. If you had a tank full of neons it wouldn't be as bad as say having a pleco, they poop a lot!!! I do it about once a month.

 

[cherrybarbbaby]

Hi!

My 10g is kinda crowded so I :

Do a 20% h20 change mid week ( 2x week if I am heavy handed w/the food or if I seen bubbles floating on the surface of the water for longer that just a few seconds, that is a sign that I need to do a quick water change) and
on the weekend I do another 20-25% h20 change w/gravel vac.

I like that schedule it works for me until I move and get a bigger tank.

 

[Bol]

Why would I want fish filth in my tank if I can get it out? Why should I let it break down in my tank and add to the nitrate levels when I can simply remove it?

If you've got a lot of plants, the waste could be beneficial.

To answer the original question, no, I don't. In my fairly heavily planted tank, I do a little spot vacuuming every other change, and manually "brush off" the surface of most of the gravel every month or so.