Cleaning a planted tank

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voo

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Messages
27
I've decided i'm going to have a go at a planted tank but i'd like to know how do you manage to clean the gravel / sand with all the plants in the way, especially the ones in the background.
At the moment i only have a few plants in my aquarium and have noticed that there's a lot of waste that collects around the base of the plants. I don't clean them that often at the back as it's hard to get at and hard to see. So what i'm wondering is how do people manage that have many many plants bunched together?
 
I just vacumm the open areas around the plants, carefully if they are rooted as to not disturb the roots. I will wave my hand around to get any junk out of fine leafed plants.
 
I use a small powerhead to keep a gentle current flowing throughout my tank. This helps from too much detritus settling. My tank is heavily planted and I don't ever have to vacuum the bottom. Some of my fish and shrimps help the cleanup as well.
 
ok thanks, i'm gonna give it a try and see what happens.
 
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