I know you are supposed to make water changes every once and a while, but how often are you supposed to vacuum the gravel? I know to skim the top of the gravel as to not kill the bacteria. Can someone help me here?
Vacuuming the gravel is really based on the size and bio-load of the tank as well as the filtration running the tank!!
A good rule of thumb is during every other water change.
Some of my tanks are greatly overstocked so I usually clean the gravel completely every water change.
In my case however, I use a 50 gallon per minute commercial water pump to siphon the water so I have to stir the gravel rather that stick the siphon tube into the gravel.
If I did not do it this way the pump would suck out the gravel!!!
Every 3rd water change I use my hoover to turn the gravel and extract the general build up of "muck." I imagine it is down to stock as previously stated but I have never had any issues following this rule.
After the 3rd water change using the hoover I then clean my filter media of the 4th.
It also depends on your filter. If you have a biowheel or a sponge in your filter, vacuum away. The majority of your bacteria is in the filter. I have an emperor 400 on my 55 gal as well as an UGF, I vacuum half the tank every week, taking about 15 gallons out.
