Vacuuming gravel

[Litespeed]

We have had our aquarium cycled for about 19 days now. How soon can we safely vacuum the gravel? We did a 25% water change last weekend and only vacuumed half of the gravel and saw a lot of debris in the gravel as it was going up the hose. Some people say not to disturb the gravel at all for a while and others say it's okay to vacuum.

[Sploke]

Vacuuming the gravel shouldn't present any problem. I'm assuming you have some sort of filter running. The majority of the bacteria will be resident in the filter, but there will be some in the gravel. however, it is attached firmly enough that merely vacuuming shouldn't dislodge them and cause any issue.

[~Kswords~]

:iagree::iagree:

[theotheragentm]

It's more harmful to leave things sitting in the gravel in my experience. Food rots and contributes to the bioload. I always try to do a little vacuuming when doing my water changes.

[jessivore]

:iagree:

[jm1212]

the flow of the gravel vacuum shouldnt be enough to disturb the bacteria.

go over the entire gravel bed at least once a week.

[Rbishop]

I heavily gravel vac at all water changes, new and old tanks.

[montysmum]

I am worried about myself because I find it strangely therapeutic to do the gravel vac:headshake2:! It's great to see all the muck vanishing up the tube!

I do a gravel vac every week when I do the water change. I change about 1/3rd of the water and vac half the gravel at a time. It doesn't matter how well I do it is always really mucky when I do it again!

[Mgamer20o0]

gravel vac all you want. its not going to hurt anything plus it gets waste out of the tank.