Vaccume gravel or not ??

[Romwhi]

Hi.... I have started my 1st 20 long planted tank.The plants are Hygrophila difformis,Hydrocotyle leucocephala ,Rotala rotundifolia, Microsorium pteropus and a couple of what looks like a drawf Vallisneria spiralis, oh and Philodendron roots hanging in the water. Lighting is 1 20 watt fluorecent tube and a little morningsun.Filtration is a Aquaclear 200 thats packed with peat moss and a Aquaclear powerhead with an airline sucking air(Q tip pushed in the end of line).Fish are 2 pairs Checkerboard cichlids(SA), 7 Whiteclouds,6 Ghostshrimp, 1 Ram and a Goldspot pleco(think is drawf ??). Tank has been set up and running for 8 months with minnamal problems, I lost 1 Ram and gotta trim the plants alot and forgot 1 Oto ,seems they drop like flies in my tank had 4. I do 30% water changes every Sunday, with 1 day old water( got lotsa little air bubbles in the cold months here and the bubbles collect on the side of bucket and I tap them to surfice). additives are Stress coat and Tetra Blackwater.OK now all that for just 1 question, do I vaccume the gravel or not , been told no, have also read no, very confused!.

 

[babyfish]

Yes you need to vacuum your tank, just don't dig deeply around your plants as you will disturb the roots Most people do a gravel vac when they change the water

 

[Lateral Line]

If you have gravel, then a lot of muck tends to break up and fall in between the grains, you should remove most of this, (a little will be beneficial to the plants roots).

If you have sand, then most of the muck tends to lie on the surface and is easier to see/remove. Sand should be kept open to prevent it packing down and potentially developing anaerobic areas, I prod about with a chop stick.

In either case, don't go mad around the plant roots.

 

[Supersalmon]

Another question on the same kind of topic. I have seen tanks with a large covering of low plants along the front that looks like a lawn. I have a lot of plants in my tanks and find it very hard not to distrrb them when gravelling the vacuum. What i want to know is what do you do when you have a grass, do you just not clean the gravel or do you clean the grass??

 

[Bol]

I don't have "grass", like you're talking about, but here's what I do in areas where it's difficult to get a siphon to, or I don't want to disturb the plants:

About once a month, I'll go in two-handed. One hand holds the siphon near the substrate, while I use the other hand to "brush" the surface around the plants in the direction of the siphon. Sort of like you'd do with a hand broom and dustpan.

Minimal disturbance to the plants, and it picks up quite a bit of the surface "gunk".

 

[Romwhi]

Thanks for the replies, I do vaccume the gravel and have made little spots to fit syphon between plants and rocks,was just wondering and everyone was very helpful Thanks