Cleaning/moving rocks ?

[cjmarshall925]

I'm a fanatic about vac & water changes - every 7 - 10 days I do about 25% and 50% every 3rd time or so. My questions are

1. When I vac - the last few times I've noticed if I go really deep in the gravel (I have 2 - 3" most everywhere in the tank) that a really dark cloud of gunk comes up. Am I not cleaning good enough? Do I have too much gravel? Should I leave it alone and only clean the top?

2. I like to move the rocks and plants (fake) around for a new look now and then. It makes it easier to get all the debris and I'm one of those women that just has to move the furniture around every few months.... Does that terrorize the fish? Most of them seem to get over it pretty quickly.

My water tests are great. All seem to be thriving....
I have a 75Gal tank, Eheim canister and an Emperor 4000 HOB

[Rbishop]

Sounds like you need to do it more frequently and a bit better. Watch how much you are feeding also.

I rearrange mine all the time. They get used to it.

[Malbri]

i rearrange mine allll the time. I just leave a terra cotta pot cave in there and they just stay in there to move out of the way, or something they come play with my fingers

[kw0me]

haha my angels always peck at my fingers when im cleaning or remodeling all the rest know the drill and go sit down one end till im done. i think the angels do it cause i hand feed them.

[cjmarshall925]

Yep - I love my angels - they fear nothing!
Thanks for the help. I'll give it a good cleaning (agian). And not give in to the begging for food quite so much!

[Que]

Sounds to me like you just were'nt going deep enough with your vac before. You need to go down to the bottom to really get as much as you can.

Q

[ITHURTZ]

Ya I go nuts when I clean my gravel, today gravel was all flat and now I made little mountains. Im sure it sucks being my fish because I keep moving things around as I always hate the way it looks.

[skillful abbot]

Go Deep! To be honest though, I dont vacuum my substrate at all. But I have live plants. I agree with RB about watching your feeding. You'll find the balance eventually...