Need fish to help my gravel!

[polerz]

I have a big tank, its pictures are here: http://members.iinet.com.au/~polerz/pics/

I cant exactly vacuum the gravel, its too hard. I'm getting a cannister filter + I have two fluval power filters in there.

I'm planning to put about 10-15 fish in there, all will be very harty fish, how important is gravel vacumming? It's pretty much impossible with this tank.

I was thinking of getting fish which sit down the bottom and just suck on stuff like catfish! But I dont want them to eat my other fish when theres no food around.

Its a cold water tank, any suggestions on how to keep the gravel under control?

(not putting a [acronym:b18a833cc4="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:b18a833cc4] in there.)

[Fishyfanatic]

You could vac the gravel with an extender. Gravel vacing is very important because it sucks out the fish waste. If you let the waste sit on the bottom of the tank, all it is going to do is cause your Nitrates to be high. I'd get an extender. Catfish won't eat fish waste.

[polerz]

extender? this tank is 1.5m high

I thought the wider part of the gravel vac is supposed to be just under the water line for it to work. the highest one I can find is 66cm..

[Skyrmir]

Doesnt' matter where the end of the gravel vac is in relation to the water line, as long as it's under it. What matters is where the water line is compared to the water line at the output end of the hose. With a 5 foot tall tank like that you should have some nice suction with an outlet near the floor.

I'd suggest rigging up a section of [acronym:f40d392f67="Plastic pipe"]PVC[/acronym:f40d392f67] pipe as a rigid extension for your gravel vac, will give you the reach and be able to move it around the bottom.

[Fishyfanatic]

Definately rig something up. If you let the fish waste just sit at the bottom of the tank I'm afraid that something nasty will form down there. Over time the gravel will be so full of waste. I wonder if Anacharis will grow tall enough to reach near the top of the tank.

[875mill]

I dont see how a hard extension or a piece of [acronym:3544509cce="Plastic pipe"]pvc[/acronym:3544509cce] will work for you. It only looks like you got about a foot to a foot and a half between the top of your tank and the ceiling. Dont see how you could squeeze it in. Sharp tank though, but it looks like its gonna be a PITA to cleen.

[talloulou]

Cool looking tank, but extremely small surface area! I would have thought that type of tank would be set up with some sort of hole in the bottem for water changes vs doing everything from the top. There are fish that are good for getting scraps from the bottem, like cories, however no fish is going to make the tank maintenance free.

[polerz]

http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=453
so if I got something like that and taped a broom handle to the vac part of it.. put some extention on that tubing so that it would reach outside the tank, it should work?

[Fishyfanatic]

http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=451

Here is a 24 inch.

[Hillbilly Jerry]

You could also extend the intake to a canister filter to the bottom of the tank, and use strategically placed powerheads to keep detritus suspended in the water column. This can eliminate much of the 'fish poop' , but you're eventually going to have to figure a system to siphon off the substrate