Vaccuming/water changes?

Ethos

Ethos

I have a habit of saving bettas....
Jun 16, 2005
15
0
0
Minnesota
www.xanga.com
I have recently descoverd that theres a differece between water changes and vaccuming. I thought that when people said they do water changes I thought vaccuming went right along side that.
I vaccume my tank out every saterday.
But is this nessicary?
I mean, I thought when people referd to a water change I thought they ment a whole cleaning...
 
I vaccuum every time I change the water - I figure why not? Besides, excess stuff in the gravel leads to algae growth :)
 
some people vacuum every time they change water, others less often. Some are afraid too much vacuuming can harm some of the good biobugs, others say you can't over vacuum. I guess it all depends. I have a lot of sand substrates, that really don't lend themselves to vacuuming. I kind of skim across the top, and get the particles that are up there, and I make sure it gets stirred up regularly so as not to form pockets of anerobic bacteria. (MTS snails do a good job of this). If you are vacuuming weekly, and it works for you, I'd keep up with it. In heavily planted tanks, I don't disturb the substrate as much, but in sparsely planted tanks with mostly gravel I vacuum with most water changes.

Emily
 
When you g-vac, you take out a bunch of water so this counts as a WC and g-vac'ing....once a week is good, but it depends if your fish are messy.
 
Or at least stir up the water and gravel right before a water change. It kicks up all the poop/uneaten food and lets it be removed by both the water change as well as allowing the filters to collect more of it for removal later.
 
Usually the only reason people do not vacuum as often is if they have planted tanks and do not want to disturb the plants.

If you do not have a planted tank I would vacuum everytime.
 
Whever I change the water, I also vac the gravel, which is about twice a week.

I don't think you can "over vac". I just don't do it as thoroughly as I'd like to because there are a lot of plants and in my tank and I don't want to uproot the plants and stuff.

I'm not sure gravel vacing can kill the good bacteria though.
 
oxygen and gravel depth

If your gravel is deep, then as you vac you are moving the bacteria that need high oxygen levels. After vac-ing, they may be at the surface where Oxygen is good, or they may be lower and starve of oxygen. If you run a power filter or canister, then most of your oxygen loving bacteria will be there, where flow is good and oxygen levels are high, so the bacteria in the gravel is less important. If you have an undergravel filter, then Oxygen and flow is good there, so position in the gravel is not important at all.
 
i have a 10g handy, so when i do full water changes i just get a toy sandsifter and pour my gravel on that when i dump the water. it's easy on the fish too b/c when i toss 'em into the 10g, i can keep them in a significant amount of the same water they were already in. my fish are alive and well w/ no help of a vacuum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom