Looking for a gravel vacuum...

[ColdKoi]

Then just what is the point of ever vacuuming the gravel ?
Are you not stirring it up? i

That is why gravel vacs are designed to remove the water from the aquarium

 

[Joe_D]

No, that is a water siphon.

 

[ColdKoi]

No, that is a water siphon.

A water syphon with a gravel vac attachment

 

[Joe_D]

Yeah a gravel attachment that disturbers the gravel.... to one extent or another. Otherwise there would be no point in the attachment.

 

[ColdKoi]

I don’t even know where you’re going with this anymore lol

Why bother asking if you’re just going to be bull headed and ignore input?

 

[Joe_D]

Now who exactly is being bull headed?
Some say you must clean your gravel getting most all the crap out of it while others say you should never disturb your gravel

 

[ColdKoi]

Like anything it’s subjective, you’ll find just as many people argue it either direction. But you won’t find too many people arguing about reusing gravel vac water !

If you’re just surface vacing, yea not ideal by any means but much safer to recirculate that water than water from the substrate

 

[Joe_D]

Did I not say it was to be done before a water change.... and I never said I do this frequently

 

[ColdKoi]

If you’re going to gravel vac, frequently would be better as you don’t risk having so much build up and potential toxin release

Instead of making poop soup out of the tank, if you intend to change water anyways, why not just use the gravel vac like it’s intended and remove the water from the tank?

This seems like someone mopping the floor then picking up the door mat and beating it with a broom dusting out the house, then opening the windows to clear the air a bit. Lol!

 

[Joe_D]

Of course, I do use it take water out of the tank for my weekly water changes.



Keep in mind that this tank has been up and running for almost a year. So, doing some occasional gravel cleaning is necessary.
Otherwise, I would have have remove all fish and start this tank from scratch again.

This is something I do no want to do right now.. However, I an planning on doing in the not too distant future

I have another (empty) tank and another good used filter to temporally house all my fish and shrimp. :

I have set up a place to temporarily holds it : with my fish in it as I clean and re-set/ re-cycle the old one :.; I need a real shot of ambition to do that.

 

[ColdKoi]

Now I’m really lost

Why do you think you have to completely nuke the tank and re-cycle it just because you’re going to do some cleaning?

If you want to completely clean and sanitize everything, yes I guess you’ll have to start over. But unless the tank has disease or parasites you have to get rid of, there’s absolutely no reason a little scrubbing and gravel vac is going to kill the cycle

 

[Joe_D]

How are you going to clean the gravel if you do not disturbed it ... as some say you should never do?

Otherwise it just cleans the top of the gravel basically just to make a tank look a bit better

 

[Aiken Drum]

I can see the benefit of a vacuum that doesnt remove water. Ive got a tank that gets an incredible amount of poop and vegetable matter on the substrate, currently i vacuum it out with my weekly water changes, but it would be nice to have an option where i can just remove the poop and vegetable matter without the need for a water change.

The best option ive found is the Fluval Vac Adsnail has suggested, because it filters out the detritus in a quicker operation than a water change. You can also attach a length of hose and use it for water changes if you wish. If anyone gives me any Xmas money, thats possibly where it will get spent.

Im not suggesting using the vac instead of water changes, but i dont see the harm in a quick clean up between your normal water changes.

 

[ColdKoi]

How are you going to clean the gravel if you do not disturbed it ... as some say you should never do?

Otherwise it just cleans the top of the gravel basically just to make a tank look a bit better

To deep clean or not is an argument that’ll never end so if you’re choosing to just do a light surface vac why would you still go and remove the substrate and clean it? That would negate any potential benefit from leaving the substrate alone in the first place

Either way, if you chose to remove the substrate to clean it outside of the tank, you’re not going to kill the cycle and have to start over. Yes the bacteria in the substrate does help, especially if it’s a long established substrate with anaerobic bacteria (the reason you shouldn’t deep vac or clean the substrate) if the tank doesn’t have a high bio load you likely won’t see a thing on tests

It makes sense to have a vac that doesn’t remove water if you’re just surface vacuuming between water changes, but to do it before a water change when you can just do it during the water change just doesn’t compute

I know some people like their aquarium to look like it’s brand new but in reality that’s not a healthy environment

 

[Joe_D]

To deep clean or not is an argument that’ll never end

Yes, I am well aware of that. We all just do what woks best for us.

 

[Joe_D]

Yeah, I now got my eye on the " Fluval Vac" as recorded .
Withe the addition of 4 extra pads, the total comes to around $82 US dollars.

I will have to wait a month oi so before ordering as I already have a lot on my credit cards and I always pay them in full every month
BTW, I have not paid a penny in CC interest in over 10 years!

 

[ColdKoi]

Ouch, they don’t give that thing away that’s for sure!

 

[Joe_D]

No, it's not cheap.
However, when you factor in how much you probably already spent on you tank......