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Do you guys gravel clean by taking your lid/lights off and gravel the entire tank? I've been doing the front half with the lid on (which blocks me from doing the back side). I"m worried that there's a ton of stuff in the back.

You should always get all the gravel if the tanks not planted. In my planted tanks I generally do a half @a time, and just stay away from the roots. In a non planted tank there's no worry about damaging of the roots. Some people with planted tanks will only skip the surface of the substrate as the plants make use of the rest.

I leave the lid and lights on, but have no trouble reaching the far back.

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I would say my 30g long is light-moderately planted. I will post some pics of it soon.

I always take the lid off, it just seems like it would be a hassle with the lid on. If you can get to the gravel in the back without messing up your plants, I'd say go for it.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

i'm obsessed with cleaning so I do take off the lid and vacuum the whole tank, even if it's heavily planted, I just go very slowly around the stems and plants, even if plants consume part of the fish waste and extra food, for what I've seen that comes out, I don't think they consume enough, but then again, I'm obsessed

Also depending on the size of your tank and the frequency of the wc and vac you may only want to vac one half at a time. For instances say you do weekly wc, one can vac on half really good and vac the other half really good the next week instead of doing the whole thing at one time. If you have a large tank it may not practical to try to vac the whole bottom at a time.

For me to fully do a Gravel clean it would mean a total pull down. I have a area at the front of the tank about 3-4ins wide and most of the length of the 5ft tank.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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I"m afraid I might suck some fishies with the lights off.

My vac has inhaled a cory from time to time.

I usually only do what I can see.

If it's around root bases or some such, I try not to disturb them.

Hi,
Generally speaking, it would depend upon stocking, and
your maintenance routine.
If I were you, I would remove the lights and completely
remove the cover(s). There should be enough ambient light
in the room from windows or room lights to allow you to
see into the tank with clarity.

When cleaning the tank, you should mentally divide the
tank into 4 quarters, running from the front to the back.
Then:
Each week if the tank is over stocked or near normal,
or every other week, if normally stocked,
or every month, if under stocked,
clean a quarter of the tank at a time moving from say,
left to right, across the entire tank.

In the planted areas you can lightly vacuum the gravel,
or just stir it lightly (not deep) with a stick or
something to bring the detritus up into the water to
be syphoned off. In the nonplanted areas go down to the
bottom of the tank.

This way the entire tank is cleaned at a regular interval
and regular water changes are made as well. By dividing
the tank into quarters or thirds, you give the bacterial
colonies that live in the gravel and are disrupted by
the vacuuming process, time to recover before the next
section is cleaned. Depending upon stocking levels, and
the amount of gravel you clean, you could set the tank
back into a "mini" cycle as the colonies recover.

Frank


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

In my tank the gravel is sloped from low at the front to high at the back. It's a fairly heavily planted tank, with the plants concentrated at the back and mostly bare gravel at the front. I find that the mulm (solid waste) collects at the front of the tank, so this is where I vacuum.

I never vacuum the gravel at the back of the tank, but I will kind of wave the vacuum around among the plants to collect any mulm that has settled on the leaves or whatever. This system works for me although obviously some of the more "particular" vacuumers might not like it.

P.S. yep, I only vacuum my carpet by the front door too
just kidding

yep, I only vacuum my carpet by the front door too

They make vaccums for human houses too? Doesn't sound like much fun. 'scuse me while I wrestle a dust bunny.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~