# Gravel Vac in an Planted Tank



## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

I dont vac per sei, I do however use a small powerhead to blow detritus off the bottom so the filter can grab it whenever it gets noticably built up of once a week other than water change time when it gets blown up by new water coming in.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

I dont vac either, It would disturb my plants root structures too much to do so.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I use my vacuum to get the stuff off the top of the substrate but don't actually go into the substrate at all unless I am pulling something up and don't want the water to get dirty.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

I do a deep gravel back on about 1/4 of the tank each few weeks, and I rotate where I vac each time.


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

i just the shake my hand around close to the substrate to disturb it up into the water colum and let the filter do the rest, for the most part i never really have much nastiness on my tank floor the shrimp keep it pretty pristine for the most part


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

I'm always amazed at how much crap comes up when I really dig in - and I have no soil just Eco. It's nasty!


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## comet (Jun 10, 2006)

I gravel vac as I found if I don't there is too much debris that builds up.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

I suppose it should be mentioned that this should be directly relevant to your fish/poop load. There is no easy answer other than some is good as its fertilizer and too much is bad and can cause aerobic spots that are bad for your plants.


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## John Hutch (May 14, 2010)

Thank you all for your input. I may decide to use the different ideas presented here as time goes on but as Kathyy said I will only gravel vac the surface around the plants as not to disturb the root systems growing and do deep gravel vac's around the rest of the tank every 10 days. I will see how this goes for now.

As far as the tank goes I will plant this tank about 40% and spread out the plants among the decor so I can work a small gravel vaccum around the tank.


John


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