# Cleaning substrate with shrimp in the tank?



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

You could strain the water as you mentioned. Or you could put some mesh on the gravel vac to prevent sucking up the shrimp, but still get the detritus. Either way should work fine.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Your idea should work.

Using airline tubing with a piece of clean cotton on the end (like a shirttail :redface: ) works great.

I've personally given up on substrate-level cleaup in my shrimp tank; I just do midwater PWC. I have a good carpet of plants in there anyways...

EDIT Ninja'd! Mike are you following me or am I following you...:fish: :fish:


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## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Hahaha you're everywhere on this site!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

mpodolan said:


> Hahaha you're everywhere on this site!


That's not me- that's my evil twin... shhhhh


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

i am in the same boat as lauraleellbp..... though from time to time i do feed them on one side and try and gravel vac on the other.


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## LGHT (Aug 21, 2006)

mpodolan said:


> You could strain the water as you mentioned. Or you could put some mesh on the gravel vac to prevent sucking up the shrimp, but still get the detritus.  Either way should work fine.


I pretty much do the same thing. I use a air hose that is cut on an angle so the whole is pretty narrow. I also have the hose tapped to a long then wooden type of chop-stick so I can easily control where I'm cleaning. This is the same method I use to clean a bare bottom fry tank. I feed the shrimp on one side of the tank and gently stir up the sediment on the other side as I'm siphoning out the debris. Takes a while, but if you do it with every w/c it helps a lot. I also keep a lot of MTS in the tank so that helps. However I think I may have to get all the shrimp out of the tank and do a good cleaning and put them back. After a couple of years it's getting pretty dirty and I can see a layer of stuff under the substrate.


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## aquagirl (Aug 15, 2007)

IMO

I have tried the pour through the net procedure and tiny babies did not survive the pressure of the water being poured through the net. I then used a piece of new panty hose over the gravel vac. That proved to be problematic also, not much dirt got through but neither did the babies.

I found that using a piece of fiberglass screening over the vac, held on with a rubber band helps a little. You suck up the dirt and the larger babies do not get sucked up but the tiny ones do. 

I also bought a real thin diameter gravel vacuum and cut the length down to size. It has a much more narrow base than the standard ones and gives the babies a chance to move out of the way. I also use a bucket that contrasts to the color of the shrimp to make it easier to see them in there. I then use a turkey baster to suck them back up. I found the turkey baster is much easier than a net in catching the little ones. You must remember to use gentle pressure when you use the turkey baster to put the babies back in the tank.

All this being said the bottom line is I have not found an easy way to vacuum a shrimp tank, IMO.

As lauraleellbp stated having a good carpet of plants works wonders.


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## Ulli Bauer (Mar 12, 2008)

Hi,

it's not absolutely necessary to gravel vac shrimp tanks. If you have trumpet snails in there they will turn the substrate over and over like little moles and thus prevent the muck from rotting.

Moreover, shrimp love muck - one of their favorite foods...

Cheers
Ulli


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## aquagirl (Aug 15, 2007)

Ulli Bauer said:


> Hi,
> 
> it's not absolutely necessary to gravel vac shrimp tanks. If you have trumpet snails in there they will turn the substrate over and over like little moles and thus prevent the muck from rotting.
> 
> ...


I have learned that lesson . MTS do work wonders :thumbsup:


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## jwarper (Apr 4, 2005)

Yes, "muck" and detritus in the substrate is good for the tank. Beneficial bacteria live and feed off of the decaying material. It is good for plants as well. 

However, you do not want excess food floating around because that can foul the water fast. This is pretty much the only thing that should be removed or vaccuumed up.


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## LGHT (Aug 21, 2006)

Ulli Bauer said:


> Hi,
> 
> it's not absolutely necessary to gravel vac shrimp tanks. If you have trumpet snails in there they will turn the substrate over and over like little moles and thus prevent the muck from rotting.
> 
> ...


I also have a lot of MTS and thought the same thing too, but after a couple of years you will have to clean the substrate or deal with a fine particles clouding the water. MTS will turn the soil over, but if you have 2" of soil they rarely go beyond 1" leaving anything below that to settle. Although it took a couple of years and I keep a lot of shrimp in my tank I did have to eventually redo the tank. However if you don't keep 50+ shrimp you can delay the cleaning for a couple more years.


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## Joetee (Mar 28, 2006)

I don't vacuum my gravel much. Maybe once or twice a year. What I do is just use a Turkey Baster to blast heavy debris area's and get it all in the water column so the hose can suck it up or the filter can suck it up. About once or twice a month, when I do a water change, I put some of the tank water in a bucket and rinse out the sucked up debris from the filter sponges. Works pretty good.
Joe


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