Gravel cleaning

[wxboilermaker]

exactly how necessary is cleaing out gravel? The way my current tank is set up, it is impossible to access any of the gravel with a suction thingie without pulling up all the plants and decorations. So doing regualr gravel vacuumes would be an all day affair. As long as I'm running a ton of filtration and don't over feed the fish, is it necessary to clean the substrate all that often? I can't imagine people with planted tanks or with other substrates besides gravel clean it at all.

[cginflorida]

Would it be possible just to get close to the gravel and decorations without getting right on it, just so you could get any leftover food that has fallen? I try not to disturb the gravel too much when I vacuum, I just want to get all the stuff that's lying around on it, and usually just waving the siphon around just above the gravel does the trick.

By the way, my husband graduated from Purdue. Go Boilers!

[TankGirl]

In my planted tank the gravel just does not get stirred up at all. The plant roots utilize the decomposing bits and keep it aerated. I just agitate the water around the bottom to get large particles stirred up and catch them with the syphon.

[hashbaz]

I imagine that the cats should keep excess food off the bottom especially if you don't add more just for them. I hear stories of people who hardly ever clean their tank and don't have many losses. But I went from water changes every month to every week and have less losses.

I would guess you should be fine cleaning the gravel less often, but at least every other month and don't clean the gravel too thoroughly when you do. Changing conditions are worse than bad conditions.

I hope things work out. PLEASE let us all know. I don't like moving the decorations and plants every week but I don't think my tank has as many.