What size is your substrate natey & how deep is it? I mostly have coarse sand & fine gravel (ish) type substrates these days ~2 inches deep. But I've had larger gravels before, smaller than pea size but not "fine". The problem is the bigger the gravel, the larger the spaces between each bit & the more "stuff" can fit between. The finer detritus can work its way down, kind of like mixing sand & gravel, the sand eventually ends up on/near the bottom. You might consider a quick pleco poo vac every few days, they do poo a lot, lol.
I admit I don't really vacuum very much anymore. I have lots of plants some with root tabs & a colony of black worms in 1 tank I like. Both tl & I love our bottom feeders! But there's more than 1 way to keep tanks. I have very, very limited experience with African cichlids. Does yours dig into the substrate? Plecos, even fairly large 1s, only suck on the top layer or so IME, not like some bottom fish that do a nose dive into the substrate get all the food, especially live foods!
Natey, if you could please give us just a very brief rundown of your tank each time you make a new post that will help us to help you. I know you're pretty new but please don't expect us to know all the info you've given before in other posts. I sometimes confuse 1 person with another especially if the tanks, fish or problems are similar & I'm not likely to read any & all your posts again, sorry.