# Vacuuming planted tanks



## mrdemin (Oct 4, 2009)

Not to say my tank is "well" planted but the plants that I do have get in the way, or come out of the gravel.
I was looking at pictures of people with the baby tears, or the grass that covers large areas of their aquariums. My question is this, HOW do they vacuum their gravel?


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I slowly run the siphon above the gravel surface around plants, only pushing it slightly into the gravel where there are no plants and where I put tablets etc. for bottom fish.

Byron.


----------



## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

What kind of plants do you have and what size is your gravel?

If your gravel is too large and the plants have no way to root in properly then they'll always come up. Or if its plants that rather need to be tied to a piece of driftwood they'll never root into the gravel.

And while its advisable to vacuum out leftover foods and such. To super vac your hole gravel weekly is no very good for your bacteria in the tank. When I had carpeted large areas in the tanks with eg.g Hair grass, I'd always ensure a "free" corner which was used for feeding & that I vacuumed. Left the rest alone, worked just fine.


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Most with densely planted tanks don't vacuum the substrate. Some of my planted tanks, haven't seen a gravel vac in over a year. Others only get certain areas vacuumed. The gravel vac is used to suck up lose leaves and waste on top of the substrate and in the plants.


----------



## mrdemin (Oct 4, 2009)

Ok vacuuming extra food, which shouldnt be there in the first place, but sometimes is inevitable from a certain corner does make sense... You cannot choose where fish choose to poop though, and they DO really poop.
Doesn't this rot away and become harmful?
What about the stuff trapped in the gravel, the stuff that doesnt get sucked up with a surface vac? The only plants that bother me is the cabomba, which does not root, and one of the bananas refuses to grow its root out (does grow leaves though).
When I vac, if I disturb the gravel a bunch of debris comes up, I even considered doing a super vac for a few days in a row, but would like to hold on to my bacteria, and overall just doesnt seem like a good idea to me without a veterans input.


----------



## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

You don't want to "super clean" all your gravel. That along with your filter is where your beneficial bacteria lives and you need that, taking it all out would be harmful.

If the Cabomba buggs you too much, you can also attach it to a piece of Driftwood or a rock or whatever you like, that way it stay's where it belong and doesn't float on your with the weekly w/c.


----------



## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

Thanks for asking the question demin... I've always wondered about that myself but since I wasn't quite there yet with my tank there still wasn't a point for me. And... as I've recently found out, over cleaning isn't really a good thing either so since the plants actually help with keeping the nitrites and nitrates levels low... siphoning around the plants seems like a good idea!


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

The waste that works Its way into the gravel gets broken down. The plants can use it from the substrate similar to how we use manure in gardens. They stuff that breaks down into ammonia can be processed buy the filter or obsorbed by the plants. If it is turned into nitrates, the plants will use it too.


----------



## WisFish (Dec 16, 2008)

Because I'm one of the few that still uses an UGF, I have to vacuum the gravel every-other week when I change the water. I will sometimes skip areas where I don't want to disturb the plants. But most of the stem plants have to be cut and replanted about every 4-6 weeks. That's when I'll vacuum those areas. But if you have hair grass or something similar, I'd do as Byron stated. Be careful not to diusturb them.

I don't get too concerned about disturbing any bacteria in the gravel. I'm convinced that the bacteria holds on to gravel and tank surfaces pretty well.


----------



## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

Mikaila31 said:


> The waste that works Its way into the gravel gets broken down. The plants can use it from the substrate similar to how we use manure in gardens. They stuff that breaks down into ammonia can be processed buy the filter or obsorbed by the plants. If it is turned into nitrates, the plants will use it too.


I never thought about it like that...does the waste really break down into a manure-like fertilizer?

I'm so glad for this thread because I vaccuum the crap out of my gravel, thinking that if any particles are still rising thorugh the vac, then I haven't done my job thoroughly. I wonder if leaving some of that stuff would help my plants.


----------



## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Maybe I am wrong for not being the compulsive- obsessive- vacuum lady like y'all are. But I just always left my tanks mostly alone, vaccumed out some left over foods, some dead leafs if they were within reach and that was it. All else I let built up the mulm and actually or specially in the shrimp & cray tanks that was highly appreciated and I NEVER had a NO-peak cause of this...

Maybe I'm wrong and y'all are right but this has worked for me for yrs with the mulm built up (and I actually think that's why my plants did so well w/out adding ferts to it - But let someone else judge this one)


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

stephanieleah said:


> I never thought about it like that...does the waste really break down into a manure-like fertilizer?
> 
> I'm so glad for this thread because I vaccuum the crap out of my gravel, thinking that if any particles are still rising thorugh the vac, then I haven't done my job thoroughly. I wonder if leaving some of that stuff would help my plants.


Well they both are organic based and contain a lot of ammonia which is released as they break down. I've read some where that disturbing the gravel a lot in a planted tank thats been setup for a long time, can cause ammonia spikes. I've also been warned when moving my 55gal planted tank, that I may see ammonia on resetup even without fish. I'm not really sure about this though. I've taken down planted tanks and set them back up within a day w/o problems. That said the gravel is the last thing you want to disturb when taking down a planted tank. The water goes black as soon as you start scooping it out. I've always rinsed it before setting up the tank again. If you didn't, I wouldn't be surprised to see a ammonia spike do to all the waste you release.


----------

