Cleaning tank with groundcover.

[YY7]

I wanted to know how do you clean a tank with fine substrate, and also with groundcovers just planted and spreading without uprooting or harming it, or with the substrate fully covered already? Can you vac? Is there a certain way to clean the tank?

 

[Etunes]

If the coverground is completely covered with plants that make like a carpet with no exposure then you dont vac it. The plants will eat up all the poop and stuff and you just do water changes. If it is a fine substrate you can vac the top of it lightly but you can push it down in the sand or it will suck it up. You could also use the net to skim of stuff.

 

[mgamer20o0]

just go over the top moving the gravel vac around kicking up the junk from bellow. that will kick it up and then you can suck it up.

 

[YY7]

So if the substrate is covered with plants, theres no need to vac, and the plants will use the leftover fish food and their poop as nutrients?

 

[Etunes]

Yes.

 

[mgamer20o0]

no gravel vac per say but you still want to suck up the extra mulp like i said above.

 

[YY7]

Thank you guys.

 

[HeathB]

+1 on mgamer's suggestion. Just lightly skim the area over the plants to kick up some "dust" and go from there.