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some of you already know that i recently swapped out my regular gravel to 100% eco-complete. now the plants are growing pretty well, just have some problem keeping the amazon sword's roots below the sand.

since the swap, i have done 2 water changes, and i usually vacuum the bottom where i can see fish poop. but this time the poops are in between my carefully planted glosso and hairgrass, if i dig in too much the sand will come up and the plant will shake like its going to be uprooted. i can still vacuum alright, just hard to capture much debris as i used to be able to, and with the glosso growing out and hairgrass, the floor is going to be covered eventually, so how would i vacuum then? or do i just dont worry about the poop leave them as plant ferts??

You should vacuum lightly around the root area of plants to prevent damage to the root systems. Don't attempt to dig into the substrate where roots exist. The easiest way to vacuum is to create a slight current by moving the vacuum head back and forth above your carpet plants and substrate. The movement will "sweep" debris into the water column where you can vacuum it.

__________
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greenfootball
Another way is to gently wave your fingers over the plants. This will loosen most of the surface junk and it can be lifted out with a syphon hose.

Keith

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With sand or eco complete I go over the top 1/2-1" above the substrate. Then in the heavily planted areas I just use my hand to create a current toward the filter or gravel vac tube.