I know that you're suppose to vacuum the gravel for most fish, especially if you have bottom feeders that might stir some of the deeper stuff up and release some of the more toxic gasses released by anaerobic bacteria..
but those of you with planted aquariums, when they were first being established what did you do to your gravel? should I just leave it alone or will the lack of oxygen in the gravel (I'm using a flourite mixture, most empty spaces have been filled in by loose dirt-like clay) hurt my plants/fish?
I have a tiretrack eel who moves through the gravel, a dragon goby who digs in it constantly and of course my cory who is always moving rocks around.. but it's no where near enough to keep the substrate aerated in all locations. I can't keep plants near my gobie's digging spots anyways, he always uproots them.
Basically, with house plants you have to make sure the soil isn't packed too tightly, should I have the same worries for my plants? and I don't mean packed so tightly they can't root, my 3 week old sword has roots that move through half the aquarium.
but those of you with planted aquariums, when they were first being established what did you do to your gravel? should I just leave it alone or will the lack of oxygen in the gravel (I'm using a flourite mixture, most empty spaces have been filled in by loose dirt-like clay) hurt my plants/fish?
I have a tiretrack eel who moves through the gravel, a dragon goby who digs in it constantly and of course my cory who is always moving rocks around.. but it's no where near enough to keep the substrate aerated in all locations. I can't keep plants near my gobie's digging spots anyways, he always uproots them.
Basically, with house plants you have to make sure the soil isn't packed too tightly, should I have the same worries for my plants? and I don't mean packed so tightly they can't root, my 3 week old sword has roots that move through half the aquarium.
