Gravel vacuuming

[Teakwood]

I know most people vacuum half the gravel during each weekly water change. So I have questions for all the gravel vacuumers out there.

Do you just skim the top of the gravel or do you vacuum all the way down to the bottom of the tank?

If you have caves and plants/fake plants do you remove them and vacuum under them every time you vacuum/water change?

I'm sure I will come up with more but I'm still trying to perfect my technique if you will...

 

[Morrowboarder]

I vacuum all the way. However, if you breed fish you might want to avoid doing that. I accidentally sucked up some fry one time and learned the hard way.

 

[Teakwood]

I usually move everything once every 2 week but vacuum everything I can reach with the syphon well every water change which I usually do every 5 days or so.

 

[Teakwood]

Also I'm sure I've read that part of the reason to do half and half is to keep some good stuff on the gravel I know I've had little critters swimming in my vacuumed water before which I understand is a good thing. And part of the reason not to always completely clean the gravel is to keep some of that in the tank, right?

 

[Morrowboarder]

I would imagine some of the decaying organic matter in the gravel is feeding your beneficial bacteria.