Upgrade filter for more fish?

[Thebigcorycat]

Should I be cleaning gravel with each water change or do the bacteria clean the gravel?

 

[Thebigcorycat]

I do clean the gravel each wc, but didn't know if was necessary.

 

[fishyfriends3]

Yes it's necessary.

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[Luananeko]

If you don't have live plants then doing a gravel vac is important because leftover food can gather between the rocks and decay and cause high nitrates. Live plants will eat this, but you can't really remove it very well with standard bacteria.

 

[Thebigcorycat]

If you don't have live plants then doing a gravel vac is important because leftover food can gather between the rocks and decay and cause high nitrates. Live plants will eat this, but you can't really remove it very well with standard bacteria.

I have some moss and 2 sword plants.

 

[fishyfriends3]

Yes you'll need to gravel vac then, obviously don't disturb the roots of the sword plants though.

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[Luananeko]

I still recommend gravel vaccing unless the plants have roots into all corners of the substrate. In a heavily planted tank you can get away with just siphoning the mess off the top of the substrate, but medium to lightly planted tanks still do better with some gravel vaccing as long as you avoid the root systems

 

[Coyne]

I really enjoy doing my tank maintenance and water changes, but I am a bit crazy.

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I like it too. Oddly relaxing for some reason.
Also, +1 for using a water changer. I use a bucket for my 10 gallons, but anything larger gets hooked up to the sink.

 

[Thebigcorycat]

One last annoying question. Do plecos help clean gravel some? I know it wouldn't be a substitute for vacuuming. I heard plecos are filter feeders.

 

[Luananeko]

Plecos are poop machines, they usually cause about as much mess as they clean. If you get a pleco, get it because you like plecos, not because you want it to clean things for you Also, 20 gallons severely limits you on the plecos you can keep.

 

[Thebigcorycat]

Yeah I might get a small one day. Like 3 inches? But I hear they get big. By then maybe I'll have a bigger tank

 

[Luananeko]

Technically not what people think of when they think of plecos, but an oto would stay under the 2" mark and aren't poop machines like normal plecos are, but still have the sucker face and eat algae. They need at least 3 though, as they are schoolers, and they won't do anything about cleaning poop out of your gravel (technically no fish will do that, just eat leftover food).

Other than otos, even a bristlenose pleco gets up to 4.5" and needs 30 gallons. I think the only pleco that can be kept in a 20 gallon is the clown dwarf pleco. They're SUPER shy though, so you'd rarely see it.

 

[severum mama]

LOL... I have a breeding pair of albino bristlenose in a 20 high doing their thing about every 3 weeks... plus a bunch of fry in there. Like, 100 fry easily. I change more water than most, though. I can DEFINITELY attest to the amount of waste they produce, so if you don't want to deal with that, OP, then probably don't add a pleco.

Honestly, I'd add (over time, not all at once) a few more tetras, a few more danios, and maybe a couple more cory cats depending on what species they are, and call it quits. It's likely that your fish are not at adult size yet (many times, they aren't at the pet store). That should put you at the point where one 50% water change weekly should easily keep your water quality in check. Monitor with a test kit to be sure.

"Inch per gallon", as others have already mentioned, is utter nonsense.

 

[gilpi]

Hello The...

You can certainly add a few small fish. You don't have to increase the filtration, though. Just increase the amount that you remove when you perform a water change. What a lot of water keepers don't realize is that the filter system does very little to maintain clean tank water. The filter just takes in toxic water and returns the same water that's a little less toxic. The old water has to be removed and replaced with pure, treated tap water.

So, add the fish. Just change out more water whenever you do your scheduled water change.

Pretty simple.

B

+1
There's no substitute for water changes.

 

[Thebigcorycat]

For a 50% water change I'm gonna need a bigger bucket LOL. I'm not big into plecos but my wife likes them.

 

[gilpi]

One last annoying question. Do plecos help clean gravel some? I know it wouldn't be a substitute for vacuuming. I heard plecos are filter feeders.

You would actually be doing more vacuuming if you decide to get a pleco.
They're not filter feeders, they just eat almost anything that gets in front of them, they'll even chump on driftwood.