# Is it beneficial to NOT siphon your substrate?



## WallEyes (Oct 13, 2013)

I've been doing some searching online about this question, and was just looking for more opinions. Is it beneficial to let fish waste and leftover food (or whats left after the crew cleans house!), and whatever else may fall to the bottom? 

Thanks!


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

In general, most people do not do deep substrate cleanings, as it will disturb plant roots, etc.

Some leftover mulm/detritus on the substrate is beneficial for plants as it provides nutrients. However, too much can be unsightly too.

I just do a light vacuum (take a siphon and pass it over the surface of the substrate only) to get excess mulm/detritus.


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## houbanna (Nov 29, 2013)

U need to vacuums the waste or u can develope problems like bga. U can't get everything so in turn that little bit falls into ur substrate and the plants will use it as fertilizer. U just don't want to much. There is a methods called the walstad method, I'm not really familiar with but as I understand it is a low maintenance deal were the inhabitants waste provides a part of the balance. But balance is the key word. It all depends on ur equipment, inhabitants, water conditions, and maintenance. In my opinion clean the poop and only feed feed fish what they eat, even skip a day of feeding if u want, like they were actually living in the wild


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

What you want to do when cleaning substrate is just get the stuff that's on or just slightly under the substrate. Don't shove the siphon way down in there, it messes up plant roots and they need the nutrients anyway. If you end up with a lot of gunk on there, you either have plecos or you're feeding a bit too much.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Yes.


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## Indychus (Feb 21, 2013)

Get yourself a turkey baster and use it to spray jets of water towards the substrate to loosen surface mulm. Then just siphon off any large floating bits and let your filter(s) take care of the rest. I do this once a year in all of my tanks. I never physically clean or disturb the substrate.

That's assuming that your tank is planted... You do need to clean substrate in non-planted tanks quite regularly.

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## WallEyes (Oct 13, 2013)

Awesome, thanks for all the input!


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