gravel vacuum vs. inverts

[bachismyhero]

So, my 10G FW tank is cycling and I'm preparing to stock shortly. I am curious about whether gravel vacuuming is necessary, particularly if my tank is going to contain a snail population (and possibly a shrimp or two) and some corys. The main reason that I am curious is that I have set up the tank to be viewed from three sides (2 longs and 1 short) and the aquascaping is basically lots of rocks I've collected and stacked / arranged into caves in the central area of the tank (so that there are interesting views from all sides, more or less). Java moss and Java ferns adorn the rockscape on all sides. It will be an incredible chore to remove and re-stack those rocks if the gravel bed needs to be vacuumed out with any amount of frequency, not to mention the stress that will cause the fish. What are your FW vacuuming habits? Is it possible to get by without it? If not, I may need to rethink the plan.

[emmadavis102]

gosh i never thougght about that, i just bought some shrimp and iv got snails, can they get sucked up by the vacuum??

[nickmcmechan]

yes, you must gravel vac...buy one of the smaller ones to get in-between the rocks...the flow will be lower so it will be easy to avoid sucking up things you dont want

[bachismyhero]

I wasn't so much worried about the suction danger; I doubt that's an issue unless they're very small snails or shrimp fry (though I have never tried to suck the little guys up...). I was mainly worried that I'll have to de-scape the whole tank just to get to the better part of the gravel with any siphon at all.

[bachismyhero]

Well, if it must be done, how often in a 10G with an average fish load? Oh, and do you have a pictured example of the sort of small siphon you're talking about? (Mine would have to be so small, I think, as to render it largely ineffective for the purpose.)

[nickmcmechan]

you could just use a siphon tube to get inbetween the rocks to save moving all the rocks about....however you will have to move them once every six months for a thorough vac, imo

[nickmcmechan]

gravel vac at least once a week with every water change

[bachismyhero]

Thanks much! I'll take a look into it. I'd post pics of the tank so you could get a better idea but I don't have a digital camera accessible at present. The thought of moving the rocks out has got me already rethinking the aquascape, but I may just have to bite the bullet.

[jm1212]

i gravel vac at least once a week when i do my water changes.

[cremesindraco]

this is the kind of vaccuum i use. its pretty effective.... hope the link works lol :)

[kimmisc]

The purpose of gravel vacuuming is to remove decaying matter and poop, which in turn decreases the rate at which the biproducts of decay accumulate. It also makes the tank look cleaner. Under certain circumstances, it's difficult to thoroughly vacuum every inch of the substrate because of decor or plants. The more you vacuum out, the better your water quality will be. However, unless you're overfeeding or overstocked, everything isn't going to drop dead if you don't vacuum every single inch of substrate. Actually, I found some articles online a while back about *not* gravel vacuuming, and how the biological filtration will take care of it. The downside is that it takes time, and you'd produce nitrates alot faster this way, so you'd likely need to do water changes more frequently. You don't have to gravel vacuum. There are just consequences if you don't.

[bachismyhero]

Well, I know this question depends on a number of variables that I'm still deciding on, but I appreciate the responses I've received! For a 10G FW that's not overstocked, would you say that a 10%-20% weekly PWC is a bare minimum if there is very little vacuuming or a healthy amount? I realize that I'll have to test the water frequently to actually put this into practice, but I'm curious about opinion on the subject.

[kimmisc]

Atleast. Since 10g is so small and easy to do PWC's on, I always do about 50% weekly on mine. This is with very light gravel vacuuming, as I have eco-complete substrate which gets sucked up if I do it much. I don't move plants and driftwood to vacuum under them.

[bachismyhero]

Ok. My situation is a bit 'special' right now because the bulk of the substrate (a combination of small hand-picked gravel from Plymouth and Flourite) is covered by the rockscape in the center of the tank. I think I would have to use just a siphon tube (a la the earlier post) or something in order to get under the structure and do any significant vacuuming at all. I will have to consider planning for larger water changes though.

[RoseFishWatcher]

You could look into getting a cement type substance to hold the rocks together. There are lots of products used for SW, some of which will surely work in FW too - though you would need to shop around. If you cement all the rocks into one big object, you could just lift the whole thing out (and either place in a bucket, or hold just above the gravel) so you could gravel vac underneath.

[el wadd]

this is the kind of vaccuum i use. its pretty effective.... hope the link works lol :)

I just bought the xxl model by the same brand, and I gotta admit I'm still on the fence with it. On one hand, the self starting is great...but just like in the picture you posted, it gets kinked at the top (a real pain).

I really don't gravel vac as much as hover it over the top and swirl....all the detrius makes it's way up, but I don't really dig into it.

Water changes 3 or 4 times a week make it hard to accumulate much debris. :naughty: