How do youclean a planted tank?

[Hholly]

Any suggestion?

 

[absolutangel04]

Do you mean with gravel vacuuming? Mine isn't the most densely planted tank in the world, but I do it carefully. Once the plants are rooted in, they don't usually come out very readily. The ones that do pop out, I just shove back in and I have never had a problem.
Can you put up a picture of the tank so we can see?

 

[BBradbury]

Cleaning a Planted Tank

Hello H...

I have heavily planted tanks and don't vacuum or scrape algae from the glass. I just change half the tank water weekly and check the filter equipment and I'm done.

If you have a few plants in your tank, you could vacuum the substrate a little, avoiding the area around the plant, but you don't want to take away all the nutrients from your plants.

IMO you just need to replace half the tank water every week and routinely check the filter equipment to see if the media needs rinsing or replaced.

B

 

[Hholly]

Here it is. The 3 tall plants are fake. All the rest are real.
Thanks!

 

[OBEYtheFISH]

Hello H...

I have heavily planted tanks and don't vacuum or scrape algae from the glass. I just change half the tank water weekly and check the filter equipment and I'm done.

If you have a few plants in your tank, you could vacuum the substrate a little, avoiding the area around the plant, but you don't want to take away all the nutrients from your plants.

IMO you just need to replace half the tank water every week and routinely check the filter equipment to see if the media needs rinsing or replaced.

B

You aren't supposed to change the media right?

 

[BBradbury]

You aren't supposed to change the media right?

Hello again OBEY...

You do need to periodically change the media, just not all of it at the same time. I'm not familiar with your filter equipment, so I can't give you specific instructions.

Most of this info you likely already know. But, the filter equipment and media takes in toxic water and returns less toxic water to the tank. The media material removes toxins and traps particles of plant and fish material. So, the media needs to be rinsed in old tank water and occasionally replaced, because repeated rinsing and squeezing the waste out of the material wears it out.

I use media pads. They're made of a very dense material that removes toxins and traps floating particles that can turn the water cloudy. I routinely rinse the pads and replace those that are worn.

I'm sure you have a similar routine you follow, so your filter media doesn't get clogged.

B

 

[NYgiantsRP]

What I would do when i had plants : Get a dinner plate or some sort of flat fan-like object (could just use your hand too)and wave it over the gravel and it kicks up all the stuff without disturbing the plants. I also removed the fish before that and do a 50% pwc and then let all the stuff settle and then put the fish back in.