Water changes

[Anna94]

Is it ok to vacuum the gravel during EVERY water change? Is it also ok to do a deep clean (taking everything out, except the fish and filters, and soaking them in vinegar/water and vacuuming the gravel in the spots where those items were and then vacuum the rest of the gravel) every once in awhile?

 

[Demeter32]

I do light gravel vacuuming every water change, I don't dig down very deep because most of my tanks have sand and/or are dirted.

As for taking things out and soaking them, I don't see the point unless it's covered in algae. If you don't have to soak the ornaments, then don't do it. No point in stressing the fish more than necessary. Taking everything out for extented periods of time is stressful for them.

As for moving things to clean the gunk out underneath, I do it every once in a while, like during one WC I move this ornament, and the next WC I move the other ornament.

What I concider a deep clean in scrubbing the tank walls of algae, a major water change (50%+) and rinsing off the filter media. Sometimes I will re-decorate my cichlid tanks and give them a deep clean (usually when I need to catch a fish), but never my planted tanks.

 

[StevenF]

It is Ok to vacuum the gravel every water change. It is not required to vacuum the substrate every clean. However one thing you might want to do is an occasions deep gravel vacuum. When I do a water change I use a syphon hose with hard 1" diameter plastic tube on he end Instead of just vacuuming the top surface of the gravel I push it deep into the gravel so that it sucks out the residual organic solids a the bottom of the gravel. The tube is clear so when I push it in I can see the water is cloudy from the mud it is removing. When the water clears I pull the tube out and move it to a different spot nearby and push it in again. I keep doing this util I am satisfied or I have removed the desired amount of water. You don't have to do a deep gravel vacuum every clean and when I do do it I typically only do it in a portion of the tank. When you do this on a regular basis it will help keep organics under control

However I would not take everything out and soak it in vinegar/water. Doing this could kill a lot of the nitrite and ammonia consuming bacteria in the tank. without this bacteria unstable ammonia and nitrite levels are likely. Keep in mind the beneficial bacteria in your tank are not just in the filter and gravel. They are everywhere in a established tank. Now you can do it occasionally on some of decorations in the tank to remove algae. Just don't do everything at once.

You might find sails to be a better option than vinegar and water. They constantly move around the tank scrubbing of algae off the walls of the tanks and decorations. Some snails such as Nerite snails don't reproduce in fresh water aquariums. Others will reproduce and can overrun a tank. shrimp and algae eating fish are often used in aquarium to help keep algae under control.