syphoning a planted tank, is that possible??

[brendan]

As I'm slowly making my way towards gettting my 35g up and running, which I have decided will be a planted tank, I began to wonder (after noticing how much crap comes up from syphoning my little 10g tank with only a few plants in it) whether it's possible to syphon a tank that is fairly heavily planted. And if it's not possible does all the poop in the gravel become toxic for the fish? What are your experiences with this?

TIA

 

[Fruitbat]

It is difficult, if not impossible, to vacuum the gravel in a heavily-planted tank without disturbing the plants. I do it occasionally but only in the places where the substrate isn't covered by a plant and I'm careful not to disturb the roots of nearby plants. On the plus side....the plants will take care of a lot of the fish waste all by themselves. Fish poop makes good fertilizer! You can and should still do regular water changes.

 

[tkos]

Just use the vacuum to skim the surface of the gravel to pick up loose bits. As fruitbat says the mulm cvreated by the fish is great for rooted plants. It is the byproduct of the watse decompsing that is toxic, which is of course ammonia. So plants will use the ammonia in the water as food and the dirt as food as well. But good water changes will still be needed to replace hardness in the water and get rid of nitrates which can still build up to high levels.

 

[brendan]

Thanks for the advice

 

[Allivymar]

I have a heavily planted 10g tank, that I siphon once a week (around 10% or so). While its not recommended to water change as frequently on planted tanks (the plants need the nitrgenous waste for food - ammonia. nitrites and nitrates) I happen to have 2 pooping machines...erm...otos in there and if I don't, the tank looks horrible. I use a small diameter siphon, and just run it over the sand in the visible areas. A little sand does come up, but not much and the tank looks much better for it.

 

[brendan]

That thought crossed my mind, as the hardest thing about syphoning the tank is that the syphon diameter isn't small enought. Maybe I'll try and make one that is, that should work better

 

[tabitha]

i have 4 plants but its not 'heavily' planted.. and i just siphon around them... but the fish poop is what helps the plants survive remember

 

[jsoong]

I found a siphon that is about 1" in size, great for getting into tight places & the lower water flow rate gives me more time to do a detailed job.