About Large Decor And Cleaning The Aquarium

So, I've acquired some large piece of drift wood and the area underneath it would be gravel. My question is how often will I have to move the driftwood/rocks to clean under them and around them? Just looking for some advice from a real great community. How often should I do this? my PWC is weekly and my water quality checks are every 3-4 days. Thanks in advance. If needed I can send pictures though it would take some time. Thanks.

 

So, I've acquired some large piece of drift wood and the area underneath it would be gravel. My question is how often will I have to move the driftwood/rocks to clean under them and around them? Just looking for some advice from a real great community. How often should I do this? my PWC is weekly and my water quality checks are every 3-4 days. Thanks in advance. If needed I can send pictures though it would take some time. Thanks.

I am not in the hobby long enough to offer advice of any real repute but I would think that if you got in and around the driftwood fairly closely on your regular cleaning cycles then it would only require removing the driftwood on occasions when you were doing a deep clean. If this is going in a planted tank or if the driftwood is being covered in moss then removing it would become a whole new challenge and I'm not sure I personally would try to remove it at all at that point. Like I said, I'm no expert, but perhaps my comment will spur a response from one of our more experienced friends.

 

I would see how long it takes before a large buildup of waste, and go from there personally... but that's me. Something like every couple of weeks perhaps?

 

Honestly...I hate moving driftwood around to clean the bottom of it because when I put it back it just doesn’t seem right and I start to fiddle around with it.

I have sand so it’s easier for me to clean because poop or food doesn’t get stuck around the nooks and crannies. Typically my filter will pick it all up.

Since your doing gravel it’s easier to clean without lifting cause the suction from the siphon end that you stick into the gravel will pull whatever under the wood.

If you keep your water changes on a weekly schedule...I don’t think you need to worry about lifting it. A small amount under the wood won’t crash the system.

 

Cleaning my 190g involves moving everything (driftwood included) to one side, vacuuming half, then moving everything to the other side and vacuuming the other half, then re-positioning everything. Everything includes 2 large pieces of driftwood, a few other pieces of decor, fake plants and a big ball of Java moss. It's no big deal, done on a bi-monthly basis, under current stocking conditions. I'm afraid with 10 more of the last Firemouth spawn hanging around the schedule frequency may need to increase before they are gone.