AlissasDad
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2008
- Messages
- 33
My substrate is large (.5"-1" stones) and one of the mollies I bought from the LPS just had babies. The babies hide (quite nicely, I might add) in the stones and I'm wondering how to vacuum the stones without sucking up the baby fish. I thought about pantyhose, but then I think I might not get any of the crapola vacuumed up either.
To add another level to this, I just restarted an old tank and I didn't clean anything (dumb!) so the stones are pretty cruddy. And for yet another level, I didn't do a fishless cycle and am basically starting my second week of the cycle. I'm already planning on several PWCs over the next few weeks so the ammonia and nitrites will stay under control. Is there any other concern with dirty substrate? I read another post that said not to vacuum during the cycle, which is ok, but then I still need a vacuum method after the cycle.
To add another level to this, I just restarted an old tank and I didn't clean anything (dumb!) so the stones are pretty cruddy. And for yet another level, I didn't do a fishless cycle and am basically starting my second week of the cycle. I'm already planning on several PWCs over the next few weeks so the ammonia and nitrites will stay under control. Is there any other concern with dirty substrate? I read another post that said not to vacuum during the cycle, which is ok, but then I still need a vacuum method after the cycle.