Is it possible to do too much? I do a weekly water change and vacuum the gravel in my 10 gal. However, to vacuum all of the gravel, I have to change WAY more than 25% of the water. Am I doing something wrong? I do it very thoroughly, deep into the gravel. Should I just be skimming the top or something?
Water changes & gravel vacuuming- too much????
- Thread starter Cypress
- Start date
Exactly how much are we talking about? You shouldn't have to vacuum every inch of the gravel at water changes.
What size gravel vac are you using? If it's one of the larger ones, try a smaller one. I noticed when I use the larger one, it sucks the water out so quick, I don't have a chance to get all the poop on top of the sand. I use a small/thin one now, and by the time I'm done getting all the poop sucked up, I still have a ways to go to reach the 25% mark.
Same here... I bought a smaller one for doing more thorough vacuums as the first one I had was just sucking the water out way too fast. Now I use that to fill my bucket from the tap, or to do rapid water changes.
or just a smaller section of hose.... it would bottleneck it at that point, and slow things down a bit without having to replace the entire length.
Just try not to do a 100% WC. The only case that you should have to do a 100% water change is if you spill something in the tank like beer or a soft drink. Don't know how it happens, but my lfs told me that they have heard of customers doing that.