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How often should I gravel vac my modestly planted tank? Its a 30 gallon with mostly Anubias, some crpyts, and a some other plants. I've read that heavily planted tanks do not even need to be vac (because the plants obsorbs the poop and leftovers). But what about a planted tank such as mine? Thanks.

Hi,
Actually, a planted tank should get a
"once over lightly" with the end of the python,
or hose. That picks up the fish waste, and other
detritus that builds up on their leaves, and on
the gravel. Digging into the gravel with the
hose or stirring it up is not a good idea as
it can ruin the bacteria colonies and injure
delicate roots.

With heavy fish loads, or large fish, you do not
want that unsightly "stuff" laying around.

Depending upon the fish load, and size/quantity
of the waste, once a week, or every other week
should be fine.


Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yeah, I agree with Frank. Every time you do a water change, just vacuum up some of the gravel while you're at it. A little bit every time will help out a lot.

---

And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Ok, thanks for the help. I was just doing a water change and noticed tons of debris whenever I brush against the gravel. I will do a gravel vac next week since I was already at 60% water level when I started to vac. I didn't want to suck up too much water. ]

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-08-23 15:57][/span]

i just go slightly below the surface of the gravel in between the plants when i gravel vac. i try to stay away from the actual plants so that i don't accidentally damage their roots with it it's also a good idea to get into any "corners" made by decorations, driftwood, etc as this is where the most buildup is going to occur. but try to stay away from the plants if you can

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Another good thing you have going for you is you have 6 cories in your tank to eat up all the stuff on the bottom. But another thing to mention is the size of the gravel. If your gravel is the size of a pea or larger, waste could become a huge problem for you. I wouln't recommend gravel that size. I actually have sand now instead of gravel (which is very hard to clean). But when I had gravel I would shake up the gravel surface right before a water change and do a once or twice over the gravel once a week when doing a water change. Your plants will help with the nitrates, but not as much as a good gravel vac will.

Just vacuum the surface of the substrate and the main reason you are doing this is to prevent stuff from rotting anaerobically. This is necessary only if you have like pebble sized gravel or larger. The mulm is good for plants and bacteria, but that top layer of substrate should be aerobic. If your plants and bacteria can't do that then you need to. In the end, gravel is a very poor substrate for plants and you will have poor growth except perhaps with plants that get their nutrients mostly from the water column.
good references:
Diana walsted "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium"
The skeptical Aquarist

My gravel is "average" size.

If you check out these pics (http://photobucket.com/albums/v347/djsly/), you can see the size relative to some fishes/plants/rocks.

Consider supplementing that gravel with... something if you are unhappy with plant growth. There are commercial additives or you can use garden soil or something. Don't be hasty, just be aware of what you can do. I won't go into that discussion here since you asked about gravel vacuuming.

About that

Its good to know what happens if you don't vacuum the gravel. In heavily planted tanks, this basically leads to recycling of nutrients (through decay, chelation, adsorption, etc), water stability (from humic stuff), substrate maintanence (root actions) and plant growth. With no plants, then this mulm builds up until anaerobic bacteria take over and decompose the stuff. This can be toxic (acids and hydrogen sulfide). With gravel vacuuming plants do poorly, but fish only tanks do well.

If you're interested, see those references i cited above. The book is pricey, but the website is free.

To put in succinctly, I should gravel vacum my tank about once every other week (with water change)?

Its all up to yor eyes. If you notice that there is a small haze right above your substrate or your fish seem to act a little strange, your best bet is to vaccum your gravel with a 20% water change. If you have more fish than you should and feed them 2 times a day I would think it would be best to vaccum and water change 20% every week.

Sounds good