rwood

Hi all,

I've recently stocked my plants with tanks (22 gallon and with a lot of plants) One thing I noticed when I replanted the tank was how dirty the gravel had gotten around my previous plants (just a few) - it was literally black from fish waste; not a good look. I normally use a gravel vac but the gravel around the plants always got neglected (hence turning black from filth) - just wondering if anyone had any ideas of how to clean the gravel around the plants without disturbing them too much.

Thanks

Gozer_1

Black eh? Does it stink? If it is really smelly then it's probably root rot. What plants are you talking about. Some will rot if planted to deep. You shouldn't have to vacuum too deep in your gravel with live plants. I only clean the surface of the gravel with out stirring it up at all. I know stagnant rotting areas will turn black and stinky. But plain ol waste accumulation shouldn't be that bad. How many fish do you have in there?

rwood

I can't say I noticed any particular smell when I was cleaning the tank out; and I don't have the names of the plants I'm afraid - I have been meaning to find out for a while (bought them from the lfs without noting down the names of each plant)

They were planted fairly deep though and the roots had turned black (or were coated in black; hard to tell) - I have 2 kribs, 2 corys, 14 rummys, 2 danios and 4 platys in the tank

Gozer_1

That's quite a few fish for your tank. You definitely have a lot of fish waste. More than your plants can take care of. The build up of excess nutrients will cause the roots to start rotting. If there's enough rot it will stink. Plant your plants a little shallower. In the landscape business we have a saying (mostly for tree planting): "Plant em high they'll never die. Plant em low they'll never grow." Pretty well applies to regular plants and I'm sure even the under water variety. You also need to be doing healthy weekly water changes to make up for your bioload. If you do a good sweep of the bottom especialy around plants once a week, it'll help keep it from settling down into your gravel. Your plants will do much better with out the build up of excess nutrients and more plants will help keep up with your fish stock.

rwood

Yeah; guess I'll just have to keep up regular water changes. I can't really fit too many more plants in the tank in any case lol

thanks