# How do you vacuum substrate in a heavily planted tank?



## kunerd (Jul 19, 2005)

Vaccum whats that. JK i dont worry about it unless i tend to see more algea popping up and then i ussualy do a big trim anyway and that lets me suck up alot of the crap on the sub


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

I almost never need to. I usually just grab whatever detrius might be sitting on top and avoid getting too close to the gravel because I don't want to clog my Python.


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## Blackthumbwoes (Feb 27, 2007)

For my planted tanks i have a ridiculously small hydro vac made from rigid UG lift tube material and small hose. I use it to get the darker wastes off my pool filter sand so its nice and bright again. Normally i don't bother with much deep cleaning just a stir to check for bubbles. It works well but takes awhile on my 75 gallon. I can get really close to the plants with a 1 inch diameter tube and as long as i'm on the ball i don't pull up much if any sand.

Jason


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

once a year I uproot all my plants and do a thorough vacuum.
if I notice a lot of crude on the bottom I can pick out with my
fingers or tweezers, I use the narrow tube end of my vacuum,
and siphon water out right near the gravel surface, which can
generate enough suction to pull out all visible surface crude.
the best way I can reduce the need to vacuum is to under feed
your fish, and remove plant debris by hand during water changes.


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## Dawn Haze (Feb 27, 2007)

If needed I drain a little water out of my tank and with a light flow of water flush any detritus out of any spots that are hard to get to then suction it out as I continue my water change.


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## shwerm601 (Dec 16, 2007)

spypet said:


> once a year I uproot all my plants and do a thorough vacuum.
> if I notice a lot of crude on the bottom I can pick out with my
> fingers or tweezers, I use the narrow tube end of my vacuum,
> and siphon water out right near the gravel surface, which can
> ...


is it bad to uproot plants and move them frequently? I know you only do it once a year but if I rearranged would it hurt plants if I moved them a few days later because i changed my mind about something?


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

shwerm601 said:


> if I rearranged would it hurt plants if I moved them a few days later because i changed my mind about something?


few plants would be _hurt
moved within same tank,_
but every move delays
their acclimation, thus
healthy regular growth.


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## shwerm601 (Dec 16, 2007)

spypet said:


> few plants would be _hurt
> moved within same tank,_
> but every move delays
> their acclimation, thus
> healthy regular growth.


as long as I wont kill them Im not too worried, I havent rearranged the tank since I started only added more plants in hopes that it will all fill in very junglish. I planted a lot of riccia and glosso and a lot of it got uprooted, :-( I just got ferts from rexgrigg last week started dosing regularly and considering adding another c02 DIY setup got a nice pretzel jar here would work great.


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