gravel cleaning and plants

kyle3

kyle3

AC Members
Mar 17, 2005
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Minneapolis, MN
So have a 20 long with six different types of plants and as it is still new I'm trying to let the plants alone so they can develop thier roots, but how do you clean the gravel of fish waste without disturbing your plants. Some of the pictures of your tanks are amazing with plants covering every surface- do the plants just absorb all the rotting fish poo or . . . I don't know. I love the plants and want to increase my collection but i'm afraid of creating too many little spaces for waste to colect. Any guidance you can provide would be supper! thanks
 
I use a siphon to clean my tank. I just skim the surface of the gravel with the siphon picking up plant debris and other waste that has not been absorbed into the gravel yet. I do this every Tuesday.
 
Funny how I have gotten in the habit of doing my water changes/ gravel cleaning also on Tuesdays. Today is Tuesday, woohooo it's fun day! :dance: :dance2:
 
I have a gravel vacume and am familiar with how to use as i've had the tank for quite some time. it is the volume of plants and thier obstruction to cleaning i'm wondering about
 
Deep cleaning by vacuum of the gravel is not needed or done in planted tanks routinely as it is in FO tanks. In fact the disturbance will not help the plants at all. As carttman said, just surface skim any obvious debris or mulm while partialing the water.

The only time that I really vacuum the substrate in planted tanks is when lifting and dividing an overcrowded clump of plants.
 
I don't use the gravel vac around my rooted plants. Nitrogen is part of a plant's diet, so any waste near their roots seems like fertilizer to me.
 
So those dangerous pockets (sorry can't remember the correct term) won't form in planted aquariums, or the plants can disolve them themselves?
 
A rooted plant sees a dead zone, or unfiltered pocket, as a food source. Once their roots are set, you should have no reason to upset them. I'd give new plants at least a few months before vacuuming around them. After a few months, the roots should be secure enough that even a slightly vigorous vacuuming wont hurt them. My limited experience though is with amazon swords. Once they settle into a location, they take over control of the substrate.
 
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