Thebigcorycat
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2014
- Messages
- 15
Should I be cleaning gravel with each water change or do the bacteria clean the gravel?
If you don't have live plants then doing a gravel vac is important because leftover food can gather between the rocks and decay and cause high nitrates. Live plants will eat this, but you can't really remove it very well with standard bacteria.
I really enjoy doing my tank maintenance and water changes, but I am a bit crazy.
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Hello The...
You can certainly add a few small fish. You don't have to increase the filtration, though. Just increase the amount that you remove when you perform a water change. What a lot of water keepers don't realize is that the filter system does very little to maintain clean tank water. The filter just takes in toxic water and returns the same water that's a little less toxic. The old water has to be removed and replaced with pure, treated tap water.
So, add the fish. Just change out more water whenever you do your scheduled water change.
Pretty simple.
B
One last annoying question. Do plecos help clean gravel some? I know it wouldn't be a substitute for vacuuming. I heard plecos are filter feeders.