How often do you siphon the botom of your aquarium?

[squawkbert]

I gravel vac. ea. 2-3 wks during PWCs of 25-35%. Lightly planted, overstocked minibow 5g (see sig, link)

 

[blazeyreef]

once a week, quartz gravel, starting to make planted

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I can't vote, I do it every two days. Do 25-30% of water change at the same time.

a 30% water change every 2 days?

Isn't that a little excessive?

Depends on what kind of fish they are and how the tank is stocked. Not excessive at all. You can never change it too often.

I change 50% weekly and do a vac on every change. All tanks are sand.

 

[theotheragentm]

Do finer substrates require more cleaning?

 

[gu2high]

I do it every two days because the current 10 gallon tank is quite crowded. There are 2 cories, 2 platies, 40+ fry, 2 zebra danio, 3 otos.

Some will move to the new 58 gallon tank, I want the new tank be planted so that I won't vac much, maybe do a slightly vac per week when do pwc.

 

[farmgirl]

PWC 1X a week, vacuum every other. Very light bioload for size of tank.
Reg. gravel, 3 lava rocks, driftwood and 6 or live plants for now, with 18 fish 2" or smaller. 90 gallon acrylic.

 

[physicsdude]

I do a pwc once a week on average- sometimes I am lazy and let it slip for an extra half week.

 

[fish 'n' fries]

Pretty much weekly. It's a moderately, on it's way to heavily planted tank. I obviously only gravel vac the parts that don't have plants yet... but I also have a pleco who makes extra mess. Oh, yeah, it's gravel... has driftwood and rocks...

 

[Esra]

I gravel vac everytime I do a PWC. ABout 25% a week.

 

[hashbaz]

ecocomplete gravel/sand, LOTS of plants.

50% PWC every week

have not ever cleaned the gravel (and don't plan to).

 

[rkilling1]

Pool Filter Sand in all of my tanks.

50% PWC weekly and I do not clean the sand.

fully planted

 

[joannde]

I vac with every PWC. More specifically:

35G barebottom with plants in pots or tied to ceramic decor. Bare spots are vacuumed fully; wand is mowed through the top of ecocomplete substrate in the pots to remove the top layer of gunk

10G DP tank, heavily planted - I do the "mowing" thing throughout this tank - gently turning over the top 1/2" of the sustrate; obviously some spots you just can't get to - like at the very base of the swords

2x 3G Eclipse (1 Betta tank, 1 ADF tank) - same mowing action as the DP tank

2 x 2.5G barebottom tanks (1 Betta, 1 Female Platies) - the Betta tank is done 1x a week. The plants are "floating" java moss and a java fern (they're not tied down) and a ceramic cave. The java moss is rinsed each week and the barebottom is easily cleaned. The Platy tank gets done every 3 days - those girls are poop machines LOL. They have java moss and a ceramic cave also - the moss is rinsed each time and the cave is moved to get under it.

 

[hc8719]

once a week when i do a pwc, i just use regular gravel. i'd like to get my hands on some eco-complete and only have to pick up the top layer

I can't vote, I do it every two days. Do 25-30% of water change at the same time.

a 30% water change every 2 days?

Isn't that a little excessive?

not if you have discus...

 

[Puriti]

*Those marble stone things you put in vases
*A bunch of big rocks for caves
*LOADS of fake plants

i do it everytime I do a water change which is usually once or twice a week ^__^

 

[MyCatsDrool]

on my 55g -- heavily planted. 25-50% PWC weekly, no gravel vac. driftwood decor, 50/50 flourite/PFS

on my 30 gal 50% minimum PWC weekly, PFS, ceramic decor (this tank is slightly overstocked -- 2 Pseudotropheus socolofi/2 jewels...10 z danios as dither and a queen arabesque pleco

 

[DepotFish]

A few times weekly. I've got barebottom tanks. It only takes 5 minutes to do a vac and pwc.

 

[DarylF2]

I voted never. Ever since my overhaul in August, my (moderately heavily planted) 38-gallon tank has been remarkably debris-free. I use my tweezers to pick out the occasional dead leaf, and I clean my filter intake tube 1-2 times per week. I haven't had to clean the (Eco-Complete) substrate for many months, though. It remains extremely clean and very nice looking with pretty much no work on may part.