Aquarium AquascapingTo share tips and ideas on aquascaping your aquarium. Topics like aquarium themes, tank backgrounds, decorating with plants, driftwood, etc should go here. Also check out the article on aquarium aquascaping.
Hello Jarrod. From what I understand a planted tank such as one in the video would thrive off of the fish and food waste and vacuuming wouldn't be necessary. The plants help to control the cycle. However, you could take a turkey baster to remove anything that might be sitting on the top of the substrate or wave your vacuum over the debris and suck it up. I'm sure you'll get some more responses too. You couldn't disturb the root system by vacuuming completely.
If only I had seen that video before I started my tank. That's almost the exact look I want as far as the carpeting and rocks go. I wonder where he found those particular rocks.
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Originally Posted by jarrod
how do you clean(gravel vac) a tank thats carpet planted?? or do you?? how do you get rid of the waste that sits at the bottom?
Once the plants are firmly rooted you gravel vac shouldn't be strong enough to pull them out unless you're intentionally trying to pull them out. But you can actually (and briefly) place the vac on the carpet and not get any disturbance. Alternatively, you can fan your carpet with your hand to get any loose debris to rise up and then net it out or vacuum it out. And like was said earlier, you shouldn't have much waste. The fish waste will become fertilizer and need not be a concern and food shouldn't be a problem because if your fish are grazers like mine are, you should be feeding them less than what you would normally feed them, imo. The only waste you might would be from the plants (broken/dead leaves, trimmings, etc) and they can be taken care of as described above.
STEP 7: Add water to the aquarium.
To avoid messing up your gravel and plants, you can place a plate or saucer in the middle of your aquarium and direct the water flow onto the plate. Use room temperature water when filling.
Does anyone have any idea what kind of rocks he used in this video...? I have plans to start a small 10 gallon aquascape tank this summer and a decent rock like that would just be absolutely perfect.
STEP 7: Add water to the aquarium.
To avoid messing up your gravel and plants, you can place a plate or saucer in the middle of your aquarium and direct the water flow onto the plate. Use room temperature water when filling.
Its exactly what I did when I set up my last tank
Awesome vid too thanks for posting!
A better way is a few sheets of newspaper spread over the whole tank and moistened with a spray bottle. Then pour in the water with a watering can rather than a bucket. It disperses the water better. Once the tank is almost full, remove the paper (which should float up to the top) and add the last amount of water.
IMO, the plate method still pushes water around too violently and you need to be very careful of placement to avoid crushing plants.
feel free to disagree, this is just the best method i've found.
Thats one amazing tank! Something I could very well get into.
This brings up a very good question:
How does one vacuum such an aquarium? You obviously cant use the standard gravel vac method? Or do you even need to vacuum? o.0
Thanks for the video i am about to upgrade my tank to 45 gallon n planning for planted river theme.This video really helps.Could you let me know which grass is the easiest to manage for carpet.
I wish they had showed how the heck he filled it with water after he planted everything.
From my understanding of aquascaping you would use a slow flowing fill with the end directed onto the rocks - so no pressure from the water directly disturbs the plants - aim the water at the largest rock and fill with great patience.
awesome Video. and its hard to find good ones! for some reason though the way that guy moved his hand cracked me up lol the way he would plant the plant with the tool.. idk lol but yeah great video thanks for sharing!
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Something I could very well get into.
