Cleaning a planted tank

[adive]

Hello,

I am still getting the plants thing right.

I have fairly small size gravel in which I've planted baby Amazon plants. Its a low tech setup. Whats the frequency at which the gravel needs a thorough cleaning? Once in lets say 2 or 3 months do I need to uproot the plants and vac the gravel clean? Wont too much waste build up if I dont?

I do weekly partial water changes but dont do deep cleaning where the roots are.

Thanks.

Just after posting my question some similar topicc came up at the bottom of the page so I probably got my answer. Here's one thread:

 

[Tonia]

Did you find your answer? For my tanks, all are planted, I mostly vac the areas where the plants aren't at. When I wish to rescape, I often carefully pull out the plants and place them in a bucket, then do a thorough gravel vac, then re-plant and design the tank before refilling the tanks. Fortunately, my fish are very used to this treatment because about every month or two their homes get rearranged.. I call it "Moving to a new section of the pond" same general stuff, just in a new design.

When I aquascape, I also take the time to gently wash my plants, trim dead leaves, check for snail eggs to remove, etc.

 

[Gen120]

i just vacuum all areas around my tank, but not near my plants ( not underneath/a few inches from them)- but mine have only been in my tank maybe a little less than 3 months, so the roots are still getting established in my tank (think they pretty much are established at this point, just don't want to accidently uproot my plants lol)

 

[Teishokue]

I absolutely do not want to uproot anything. Sometimes uprooting various plants will cause it to melt. also, replanting them isnt pretty if the roots are long and you see them sticking out.

 

[eaking]

Hello,

I am still getting the plants thing right.

I have fairly small size gravel in which I've planted baby Amazon plants. Its a low tech setup. Whats the frequency at which the gravel needs a thorough cleaning? Once in lets say 2 or 3 months do I need to uproot the plants and vac the gravel clean? Wont too much waste build up if I dont?

I do weekly partial water changes but dont do deep cleaning where the roots are.

Thanks.

Just after posting my question some similar topicc came up at the bottom of the page so I probably got my answer. Here's one thread:

Thanks for asking this question I've been thinking the same thing myself.
I have been doing the un-planted regions of my tank and once in a while just a little vac over the very top layer around the plants.....

 

[adive]

Thanks for the responses.

@eaking, As mentioned in my OP, I found some answers in .

 

[sophi]

I've got plants in every part of the gravel, so to prevent uprooting, I gently stir up the bottom and suck up the debris. Most of the fish poop ends up on the piece of driftwood I have since it fills up most of the tank, so I just vacuum that. Otherwise, I never really vacuum the gravel anymore. Fish poop is a natural plant fertilizer anyways so it's good to leave some at the bottom, but every once in a while just stir it around and vacuum what you can.