Cleaning Planted Tanks

[Psybuster]

I have a dilemma here. I'm going to have a heavily planted tank very soon, however i'm not sure how exactly I will be able to clean out all the poop from it. My fish are pooping machines and all they do is that. I know i won't be able to use a gravel vac. I'm wondering if my XP2 will be able to handle it. Or is there another method to this?

 

[RoLeX]

well if u use black gravel, u wont see it and it will eventually break down and be a natural fertilizer for a plants, i like this as it cuts ur cleaning time + gives palnts nutients, and black gravel makes ur plants and fish colours look great .

Or if u dont want to do this jsut skip over the top of the gravel u can see to get rip off excess poop

 

[Jchillin]

Very true...planted tanks require a significant amount of mulm (detrius) within the gravel. This breaks down into nutrients that the plants need. As Rolex states, this is another benefit of the planted tank in that you don't need to gravel vac as often or as much as with a non-planted tank.

Skimming is ok, so long as you don't skim too much.

 

[tailbarlionfish]

I normally just use my gravel cleaner where theres no plants and kim around the areas where theres plants. Works for me

 

[Zezmo]

Same here, I lightly vac the bottom and un-planted spots. I made a DIY python style vac. It has a one inch diameter vac, that lets me get in the narrow spaces between plants.
Other than that I always keep some ghost shrimp in there as a clean up crew and snacks.

 

[travis simonson]

Since I started keeping carpet plants about a year ago I haven't had to gravel vacuum at all. I also think my Malaysian Trumpet Snails help out quite a bit with keeping the floor clean.

 

[Psybuster]

ahh ok i was just wondering so i guess the fish waste is good for the plants. i think i got everything squared away.