cleaning & landscape

[aquasam]

this is something I think I need some feedback on. I want one of those great looking tanks with piles of rock, wood, plants .... but to take all that out to vacuum is crazy work and time. Do I not need to vacuum during many of my water changes - because I do everytime ... is there a way to have all that landscaping without it making maintenance impossible?

 

[Bearfan]

Never take everything out...or anything out. Just vacuum around it all.

 

[TankGirl]

There is definitely a trade-off when it comes to aquascaping and maintenance. You can go from bare-bottom (super-easy maintenance) to some of my tanks that are so busy and overgrown that gravel vac is a distant memory. If I have a tank that has the focus on rockwork (like my African tank) then I put the rocks in before the substrate, so it is easier to clean around the rocks and not worry about what they obstruct. My heavily planted tanks benefit from little gravel disturbance because the roots of the plants need those nutrients, so I don't feel so bad, and just try to vacuum up the debris that is obvious.

Plan ahead, decide what you are going for, and every couple of years "redo" the tank and discover the things you would do differently.

 

[BrianNY]

No need to gravel vac a heavily planted tank. Rooted plants will take care of that naturally.

 

[vega]

A good canister filter will help too.

 

[aquasam]

lets say there are no plants though .. just much stuff ... with all the waste that falls through them to the bottom gravel not be harmful after a while ... ?? to vacuum where you can while doing water changes will be good enough ..??

 

[Endgame319]

I drop all the food in one spot that would be easy to gravel vac, then when I clean I can get most of the gunk out.

 

[aquasam]

but what the pollutants from big waste fish

 

[vega]

I am using the Sera's gravel cleaner to clean the gravel. I found that the small tube help in navigating around the plant. More info at:

http://www.sera.de/English/autoframe.htm?url=http://www.sera.de/english/start-e.htm
Product -> Technical Equipment ->Gravel cleaner

HTH

 

[TankGirl]

When I first set up my 55 I built a nice cave over gravel and learned later how much gunk collects under there. When I moved I set up the same cave, since my serpae fry hide in there, but I did not put any gravel under it this time. You can always get a syphon going with an airline tube and run the tube inside structures to syphon out debris, but that has limitations. I would not worry too much about it, but just suction out what you can.