Vacuuming the gravel...

[vigesimal]

Here's something I've been curious about.

I've been back in the hobby, as some of you know, for about 3 months now. I'm definitely doing everything right this time, but haven't tried real plants so I can re-learn one thing at a time. I've taken great care of my aquascaping using 15 plastic plants, however. (Yes, 15.) And when I vacuum the gravel each week with the water changes, plants are all over the place, and I'm digging them back in later. Quite a pain.

So the question is, for all you people with REAL plants, what the heck do you do? Someday when I have them, I don't want to destroy them!

[duke1234]

I also wondered about this when I was doing research for planted aquarium. Apparently from what I read, you do not vacuum the gravel in a planted tank. If you have successfully created a "balanced" ecosystem, there is no need to vacuum the gravel. I believe it does no good and can hurt the plants. That is basically the answer from what I read...

[djlen]

Basically there is no need to gravel vac a balanced tank unless you are doing a lot of plant moving, or over feed your fish.
A light accumulation of mulm on the substrate is used by the plants and should not increase much under normal circumstances.
The only time I gravel vac is when I'm pulling and re-planting. I will then vac the area that the plant(s) came out of, and then replant as part of the water change process, to eliminate the particles that result from moving plants. So, the only time I move or re-plant is just before a water change.
BTW, I have found that introducing new fish to an aquarium seems less stressful to them just after a water change.

Len

[RTR]

Ditto Len's comments, with the small addition that if there is a visible accumulation of debris/mulm somewhere in the tank, that is vacuumed out at water change, but without digging into the gravel.

[Mooch28]

I have a planted tank, and have found that deep vaccuming never hurts.

If you have plants, go around the plants, but keep some distance as the roots stretch out. Also, be careful if you have root tabs.

If you don't have plants, deep gravel vac is a good idea of done weekly.