I have a 20 gallon tank with some fake plants and hollow log decorations. I do gravel vacuuming once a week as part of the water change. From the instructions, it says to churn the gravel, which will get the poo and detritus off the gravel, which will then get sucked up through the vacuum. I do see junk in the vacuumed water, but I also see quite a bit of junk floating around afterwards in the water itself. Is this typical of vacuuming, or do I have the technique wrong? Also, I typically knock over or dislodge the plastic plants so they float, and then have to manually put them back in. Is this also typical, or again, something I get better with over time? The vacuum itself is pretty big, so moving it around the fake plants and such tends to bump into them even if I'm careful. Is there some way to anchor them better? They've just got that plastic base at the bottom.
gravel vacuuming question
- Thread starter etspam
- Start date
Something you will get better with over time. I tend to stick my gravel vac just in one spot until the junk looks gone and move to another spot and do it again and repeat. I don't stir up the gravel and get all that crap floating around. I may get some but settles down pretty quick. And you don't have to vacume the whole bottom each time. You can pick sections at a time.
Don't worry. You are doing it right. Floating detritus following a water change is frustrating because we stare at the tank and think it should be spotless. It never is.
