gravel vacuuming with live plants

dizzykylie

dizzykylie

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Oct 20, 2006
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Hey all. Noob here. I have had my tank for about 3 months now. I have a 37G tall cube tank. Right now I have about 5 plastic plants in there. I would like to add some real plants because they look so nice. My concern here is that I regularly use a gravel vacuum to clean my gravel and was wondering what I need to do with my live plants when I do this. Do I pull them out each time, leave them in and vacuum around them? Any suggestions or hints?

Also since my tank is really tall, I was wondering if anyone knows of any plantst that are fairly tall. Thanks again for all the help!
 
Just vacuum around them. If you will be planting densely, get a smaller vacuum. You should also occasionally uproot stem plants and cut off the bottom portion so you could vacuum then.

There are plenty of tall plants. A good beginner plant is wisteria, it grows like a weed and gets fairly tall.
 
yup, vacuum around them. It was really hard for me to break the habit of thoroughly vacuuming my substrate when I got more plants. But yes, the "mulm" or particulate waste decomposes in the substrate to become plant food. I personally try not to ever uproot my plants once they're planted. I've found some amazing root systems, extending nearly a foot away from the plant! I know, cuz I was curious and pulled on it :D
 
Be sure you know whether your tank is low, medium, or high light before planting. Many tall plants will not flourish in low light. What wattage bulbs do you have over the tank?
 
Wisteria is a great plant. Sunset Hygro grew much faster for me in med/high, too fast IMO so I pulled it but I left my Wisteria, it even adapted to grow in my low light tank.
 
plah831 said:
I've found some amazing root systems, extending nearly a foot away from the plant! I know, cuz I was curious and pulled on it :D
Click to expand...

awesome, isn't it? I had a 10gal with some lugia rubins and when it was time to move the system I found that their roots covered the entire bottom of the tank! I felt so bad digging them all up, but, it had to be done :P
 
Paccula said:
when it was time to move the system I found that their roots covered the entire bottom of the tank!
Click to expand...
whoa! That IS impressive. Mine haven't gone that far yet.

I like your avatar, by the way. It's funny :D
 
when i vac my planted tank i dont use a the vaccum attachment, i just make i siphon with the tube part and stir close to the plants (with a chopstick) to kick up any gross-ness and then siphon it away.

of course i have a sand substrate so that may be overkill if you have gravel
 
Thanks guys for all of the help. I am really excited now about getting some plants. I have my tank stocked to capacity with the fish and as you guys know it's hard to stop! So maybe getting plants will help. The plastic ones just look a bit cheezy and everytime I wash them they break off.

Oh, I tried looking at the wattage on my bulb..and I couldn't find the wattage. I bought the tank as a package deal, and in my excitment didn't pay attention to those details. :)
 
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