i have a separate tank for my inverts as my other fish tank has large fish that will eat them. and what exactly is "good" about vac? is that just what you heard and what you have done so you stuck to it?
NO substrate vacuming!!!!
- Thread starter iamvictor2k
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i have a separate tank for my inverts as my other fish tank has large fish that will eat them. and what exactly is "good" about vac? is that just what you heard and what you have done so you stuck to it?
whats wrong with it going into my water column? any thing that gets disturbed is filter in about 15 min.that is heavy disturbance. i have a 5 gallon canister filter with 500 gph and 2 large hobs. i have them pointed just right so that the trash sucks right to the middle of the tank and is blown to the middle by the hobs. i spent about 3 days playing with it to get it perfect.
thanks. i dont know how different the sand is from the natural pea gravel as far as not vacing but it cant be to different right?
actually its a lot more work if you have a python. all i have to do is put it in turn the valve and watch my fish. if you vac then you are working the whole time. i have a 125 gallon so lots of area to vac. forget that if i dont have to.
The risk of putting in powdered/shredded leaves is that they will release ammonia when they decay, which does make for a great plant fertilizer, but also makes for a great algae trigger. Basically the risk is overdoing it. Built up mulm/decaying matter will produce ammonia as it breaks down, which is probably why certain types of algae are linked with dirty substrates, and poor maintenance routines. That being said...the rate of breakdown in each individual tank varies, and the uptake rate in each individual tank varies. If you have a ukaps.org account: (I can't find the better thread, but this has info regarding ammonia and algae) http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=905 Moderator ceg4048 (Clive) makes quite a few convincing posts about the algae related risks of excess ammonia in the aqauarium.
Hrm, I am reminded of the "Are water changes necessary?" thread when comparing our tanks to lakes & rivers in nature. Not gonna go there!
I personally would be concerned about the possibility of algae getting a foothold by feeding on this additional food source (the compost). Any change that throws off the levels in your tank will put your fish at risk - I agree the plants probably won't mind. But sorry, these are just my opinions based on the information I've read on the web.
It comes down to this: if you do as you say and your fish thrive, then who's to tell you to change? Good luck!
the only reason I would say you should be vacuuming your gravel is due to the build up of anaerobic bacteria. as some roots decay and other wastes collect, you can quickly get this bacteria to colonize. Eventually, the substrate will be disturbed the toxic gasses can be released into the water and this is a very fast way to kill off all your tank mates.
In one of my tanks this happened once, as my cleaning of that one tank was less than ideal. I came home to my entire home reeking of Sulfur. and it took me airing my home out and doing 2 massive water changes to get rid of the odor and make the tank safe enough for fish again.
In one of my tanks this happened once, as my cleaning of that one tank was less than ideal. I came home to my entire home reeking of Sulfur. and it took me airing my home out and doing 2 massive water changes to get rid of the odor and make the tank safe enough for fish again.
The good thing about vacs, is that (of course) they will remove all the cruddy stuffs that slip between all the gravel (uneaten foods, decaying plant matter, fish waste, etc).
While this gunk does break down and the plants will enjoy the nutrients that it releases, over time, the build up can be bad for the fishies as it will deminish the water qualitiy quicker.
Now, I'm definately not saying that you must or should be vaccing everytime you do a wc. For that I would say BAH! What I am saying, is that every once in awhile...sure...not such a bad idear.
And no, this is not what I've heard or just a routine that I myself have gotten in to. We all have "heard" what you "should" do, what you "need" to do, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. What it boils down to is what you learn along the way and what works for you and your tanks. Your environment is unique to you.
IME...here's two particular examples from me personnally. Different substrates (river gravel and SMS). Heavy plantings and fair stockings (all small community fish so it probably doesn't compare to your bigger tank) No gravel vacs. And of course, the smaller the tank, the greater impact.
1) Gravel (this was mentioned above with the anaerobic bacteria). When doing some plant maintenance in a 29g, I stirred up a bunch of gunk. Decided to vac. When I plunged the vac into the gravel, you could see tons of bubbles being released from below. And these weren't small air bubbles. Some were rather large. That was a bit of shocker to me. Figured the gravel would allow more space for it to escape to the surface. Now, once every so often, I will vac around the open spaces. Not all time mind you, but enough to keep things in check. Turns out to be about once a month or a bit longer.
2) My second example relates to the TDS that I mentioned. Again, I don't know what effect (if any) it has on fish or plants, but I know it's bad for shrimp. 10g tank, SMS substrate, heavy plants and shrimp. No vacs at all. Shrimp started out fine. Breeding and expanding their colony. Then over time steadily decreased without cause (or so I thought). Water parms always showed good. Research led me to TDS and I got a tester. Was off the charts. A couple good vacs later, it was back to acceptable levels. I now make a point of vaccing the open areas of this tank once a month as well.
all great responses. thanks for posting. please post if you have any more thoughts on this. thanks for the input guys.
So that's what happened to my shrimp! I never vacuumed my 5 galon because I was worried about sucking up baby shrimp and I thought all the stuff was good for plants. But then a few months ago my shrimp population just started dropping.
