Trpimp147

every time i stir my tank up the gravel alot of dust from the gravel comes up and stays up there for a few days or more. i have to clean my filters daily like once or 2 times a week if not more. tons of dirt comes out any one have a good idea on what i can do to get most of it out of my gravel or should i just keep cleaning the filter out and stiring up the tank to get it to go in to the filter

Luniyn

Why are you stirring up your tank just to get the dust up? If so stop and just get a gravel siphon. One of the cheap ones from the pet store (I prefer one with a squeeze ball to start the vacuum suction) will do the job just fine. Start up the vacuum and shove the end with the large plastic end down into your gravel. You will see all kinds of particles start to be sucked up into the tube. Don't move it around while you see the particles, just leave it still in the gravel until the water runs clear. Then lift it a bit to let the gravel fall out and then shove it down into the next area right next to where you just cleaned and watch the particles come up again. Keep doing this till you have cleaned out about 1/4 - 1/2 of your gravel (or your bucket is full), then wait a week and work on another section of the tank. This is so you don't disturb too much of your good bacteria in the gravel and cause a mini-cycle in your tank.

Trpimp147

i see the reason i stir it up is to get fish poop off the bottem and if they miss a peice of food because they are going after others and it gets down between the rocks. ill try that i was told not to do it but i want to ill be fine i think i have a 75 gal tank i can do a small amount and im about to do its first water change or so why not take a little off the bottem of the tank

Luniyn

If you do just a bit at a time then yeah it won't cause that much of a problem in the tank. The reason people say don't vac the substrate is because it does contain good bacteria, however, most of that is in your filter so as long as you don't vac the entire base of your tank at one shot you will be fine.