Beth1965

If I put 1/2 inch or so on the bottom of my tank below about 1.5 inches of gravel what happens when I need to vacumm the tank? Am I going to have a mess?

gremlin

You could probably still carefully vacuum the top of the gravel. You would have to be careful not to get down into the dirt. I would be more concerned with gas pockets forming under the gravel in the dirt.

Nutter

I agree with Gremlin. Gas pockets would be my major concern. Also if you are not talking about a specific aquarium soil you really don't know what fertilizers or poisons are in it. Even stuff you buy new can be contaminated during processing & often cotains soil wetting agents that are lethal to your fish. Make sure you spend the money on proper aquarium soil if you do it. Mix it to a thick mud before adding it to the tank & lay it in there using a trowel. This will help minimise the risk of gas pockets forming.

Beth1965

I do have a list of recommended soil to use. I just wonder how difficult it will be to stay away from the soil once I have to vacuum.

Nate McFin

I would not vac it either. It could be messy.
I attached a chopstick to the end of my vac tube. It sticks out just below the vac so when I vac I can stir the top of the substrate up a little. Just enough to get the surface clean. You realy want to leave the mulm anyway as it is great plant food.
Are you having pretty good success with that setup? (in terms of plant growth?)

Beth1965

I haven't done it yet, I want to make sure I have my facts and know what to expect ahead of time. Have the tank though. The more I read I see I likely won't have to vacuum after a month or so. I'm anxious to get it started.
The chopstick is a great idea.

namehater

beth, im glad to see that your fully researching the NPT's (i was secretly trying to start a revolution with my thread muhaha). as for the vacuuming, i have yet to vacuum my NPT's and they have been setup for months now.

i did trim up that one tank, looks pretty barren now lol. im trying to master the aquascape now.

MissMTS

Hi Beth,

I agree, don't vacuum the tank. The decomposing food is great fertilizer for the plants. I have had my tank set up for 5 months now and have never done a vacuum and my nitrates are very low. Also, when you plant the tank, make sure that you place your plants exactly where you want them because pulling plants up out of the soil makes a big mess. Good luck with your tank!

Nutter

Agreed on minimal vaccuming. In planted tanks you would normally only vaccuum to top half inch of the substrate anyway to leave the mulm in for the plants to use & to avoid damaging the roots of plants. I have started using Nates chopstick method as he mentioned it in an earlier thread & find it works quite well. Just make sure the chopstick only pokes out a little or you will get an unholy mess.

Beth1965

What size is your tank?

MissMTS

Its 70 gallons