gravel cleaning

[m-man]

i was wondering, for people that use a substrate like eco complete, or laterlite, do you not vaccum the gravel during water changes, because from what ive heard when you disturb that stuff it makes a big mess..
just wondering

 

[malkore]

you only vac the surface, not into the gravel, when its a heavily planted tank...espeically with laterite.

 

[mr funktastic]

i just wave the vac over the survace which dislodges any loose "crap" that might be down there. i only gravel vac maybe once per month since the plants take care of a large portion of it. once my ground cover fills in i wont be gravel vacing at all.