gravel cleaning with shrimp?! & filter change

hey guys, a couple more questions about maintaince

1) I use the provided ceramic media instead of gravel. Are they the same thing? http://reef-one.com/accessories/ceramic-media.htm

2) currently i have a couple silk plants that's anchored to the bottom of the tank by the media stones. If i clean the gravel with a vac wouldnt that uproot the plants?

3) i also have a bunch tiny shrimp that swims around the gravel, if i clean the gravel wouldnt they also be sucked in? I have no way of knowning where they are (impossible to see bottom clearly)

4) will my fish be sucked into the siphon tube while i am draining water from the tank?

5)


I need to change the filter cartridge once a month per the instruction. it also said:

Q. Won't changing the cartridge kill the filter bacteria?
A. No. The filter cartridge provides mechnical and chemical filtration. Filter bacteria, which provides biological filteration live on the ceramic media and are therefore not affected by the filter cartridge being changed.

Click to expand...

Is this true? because i am pretty sure i read somewhere here that most of the bacteria actually lives in the filter cartridge?

thanks again