How often should gravel be cleaned?

How often should the bottom gravel be cleaned. There are no live plants.

 

I gravel vac every water change. And on my sand tank I hover over sand every water change. Less around planted plants but best I can to remove old fish food

 

Every water change.

 

I gravel vac with each weekly water change

 

I do it every water change. Some people will say not to because you're removing beneficial bacteria, but most of it will be living in your filter(s). I think it's far more important to keep your substrate clean of excess waste, especially when you have fish like Corydoras who constantly dig through it and disturb it.

 

I gravel vac every water change. And on my sand tank I hover over sand every water change. Less around planted plants but best I can to remove old fish food

Little tip for tour planted tank before you start hovering over and around take a turkey baster and push some of the uneaten food and waste out in the open right @stargirl

 

Unless you are worried about cosmetic appearances, simply vacuum the gravel when you do a water change. There is one note I would add to some above comments however. You should test your water condition every week. An API Master Kit (they make both freshwater and saltwater kits) is good for this. If your ammonia and nitrite are 0 and your nitrate under 40ppm, you don't need to do a water change.

 

I vacuum more often than water changes. Is this bad?!?!

 

How often should the bottom gravel be cleaned. There are no live plants.

I usually vacuum every water change... Seems to work for me!

 

You should vacuum it every water change.

Since you don't have a planted aquarium, my guess is you use ornaments as decor? If so, you should move those every few weeks and vacuum in those hard to reach places. Gunk always collects under there.

 

Every WC, I just can't stand seeing some dirt stuck between the gravels and the tank glass also poop lying around.

 

I do it with with alternate water changes with my tank (I mean once in two weeks )

 

Before I used to do a 50% water change every week and vacuuming the gravels, but I noticed my fish very "stressed" with such amount of water being replaced... now I do 2x 20% water change a week and clean the gravel once a week... anyway going back to the question.. you should clean the gravels EVERY WEEK!! If it have uneaten food they won't eat later so it will just accumulating under the gravel with the "waste" from the fishes.... also if you are already changing the water it would be just more 5 minutes to clean the gravels... PS. Dont keep moving your decorations every time, you clean as underneath it will be accumulating waste+beneficial bacteria"in excess " to clean it for you.... if you keep moving to clean, it will only accumulate waste...

 

Clean a small section of it every water change and clean 100% of it every month.

 

Clean a small section of it every water change and clean 100% of it every month.

I totally agree with this suggestion

 

For me it depends. My smaller tanks I'll often just do gravel vac every other water change. But most of those tanks I only have 1-2 fish in. My community and bigger tanks I gravel vac weekly

 

I'm gonna be totally honest here. I rarely vacuum. Maybe once every 6 months (for most tanks) to a year or more at the longest. ONLY as the tank needs it, which if you have good water movement and filtration, you shouldnt need to do all the time.

I'm looking at my Amazon blackwater biotope as I write this, and I think its been a year without vacuuming, maybe more. Its a 30 gallon with 15 Black Neons, 8 Peppered Corys, 6 Marbled Hatchetfish and a Clown Pleco. The right side of the tank is a log jam, the left side has some large Amazon Swords. Half of the top is covered with Dwarf Water Lettuce. Its been running 3 years and I think Ive only vacuumed it twice. Ill probably do it this week just because I had a power outage last week while I was gone that killed some of my lettuce and caused a bunch of roots to pile in the corner and jam the filter intake on the HOB.

But really, you only NEED to vacuum when you see the bottom getting messy.

 

I'm gonna be totally honest here. I rarely vacuum. Maybe once every 6 months (for most tanks) to a year or more at the longest. ONLY as the tank needs it, which if you have good water movement and filtration, you shouldnt need to do all the time.

I'm looking at my Amazon blackwater biotope as I write this, and I think its been a year without vacuuming, maybe more. Its a 30 gallon with 15 Black Neons, 8 Peppered Corys, 6 Marbled Hatchetfish and a Clown Pleco. The right side of the tank is a log jam, the left side has some large Amazon Swords. Half of the top is covered with Dwarf Water Lettuce. Its been running 3 years and I think Ive only vacuumed it twice. Ill probably do it this week just because I had a power outage last week while I was gone that killed some of my lettuce and caused a bunch of roots to pile in the corner and jam the filter intake on the HOB.

But really, you only NEED to vacuum when you see the bottom getting messy.

I also very rarely vacuum my tanks. I haven't seen a reason to do it more.

 

...If your ammonia and nitrite are 0 and your nitrate under 40ppm, you don't need to do a water change.

Is this true? My ammonia and nitrites are always at 0 and my nitrate is much lower than 40ppm and I still do water changes.

 

Water changes will never hurt your tank if you keep the parameters similar. And actually, theyre ALWAYS beneficial as they add back in micro and macro nutrients that are essential to keeping healthy fish. Ill do water changes weekly, but a water change doesn't mean I'm vacuuming the substrate.

 

I vacuum more often than water changes. Is this bad?!?!

Depends on if it is planted tank or not.

Remember the nitrogen cycle is that waste is converted to ammonia which is converted to nitrite which is converted to nitrate. And nitrate is plant food. So by doing too often you are depriving your plants of nitrates they would love.

If it is not a planted tank, there is no harm in gravel vaccing a lot.

 

Is this true? My ammonia and nitrites are always at 0 and my nitrate is much lower than 40ppm and I still do water changes.

Nitrates of 40 and below are normal and safe.

 

I do water changes SO I can vacuum! I do a cleaning every 10 days or so on my 75 gallon with goldfish, never have nitrate above 30. But the coarse sand gets messy and algae gets on the sides and so on... most of their mess gets in and behind decor which makes it easy to clean. I rearrange every time I clean because with my goldfish it helps keep the tank interesting for them (they LOVE water change day). I use a python for my vacuum so by the time I've cleaned it to my satisfaction it's taken out at least half the water... so there you go!

 

I do 20-25% PWC every week, vacuuming just a section of it when doing so. Yes agree there’s a lot of nutrients in it and if you vacuum too often, it will deprive the plants of such. If it’s not planted, then as often as you want to.

I don’t agree too if stats are ok then you don’t need to do PWC. By replacing part of the tank water every week, it will replace all necessary elements in the water.

 

I have feelings about this thread, and am still trying to find the "right" amount, but what I already know if every tank is different. As a note, I don't use ferts. I care about my fish, and know they need water changes. I know my plants need a certain amount of food, which the fish produce and the more plants without ferts the less water I can change. Most of my tanks have a certain appearance standard, or my wife will become negative about a wall in our house having ugly tanks full of pretty fish... The fish, don't care how pretty the tanks are, but need the water, do now we are full circle:

In one of my tanks, I vacuum between the rocks, maybe half the bottom monthly that tank gets 20% weekly water changing regardless. It's primary purpose is 3 momma guppies being comfortable in a ton of bushy crypt, newborns up to 4 weeks will stay in there along with tiny tadpole snails, baby ramshorns, and even a snake (it's his little nano pond, the fish just happen to thrive in there). Whenever I vacuum more than half of it at once, I have to thin my crypt to other tanks as it really seems to need all the nitrate. There's never been any algae in this tank.

In several of my tanks I do all the sand weekly, these are "show tanks" I have been working on and house community fish and unusual endler guppy hybrids, as well as a bunch of ramshorns and mystery snails. In these I have a variety of plants, and find the water changed weekly just to get the sand looking the way I want it totals too much (probably 30-40%) and I'm on the edge of needing ferts. These try to grow algae but it never quite wins and gets vacuumed up.

In others with minimal substrates I vacuum every other day and it just happens to add up to near 100 percent changed weekly. I can typically barely keep one plant alive in these, and they are mostly grow out tanks, or common betta tanks. In these tanks it is prioritized to keep the bottoms incredibly clean, and the fish definitely don't mind the fresh water they get.

I test all my water parameters as I start a water change. I plant based on that tanks average pre water change nitrate level. If a tank has 0 nitrate I know I need to watch for algae, maybe pull a plant or reduce the light cycle. If a tank is running more than 20 I know I need more plants or light. In the low nitrate tanks, I try to change as little water as I can to keep as much nitrate in the water as possible so that's how I determine how long I can vacuum for. Almost all my tanks are currently testing triple 0 just before water changes so I'm watching them pretty close, but still try to do what's best for the fish, and give them some new water.

In under filtered tanks I know there is truth to doing half the gravel at a time, as a surprising amount of bacteria do in fact live down there and break down the waste, but under filtration (as far as bio capacity) isn't something I'm into, though I can see that minimalist side of the hobby being pretty cool as well. I may even try it with a betta tank and try to grow a jungle, it's just getting it there naturally that will be the challenge.

So I guess, vacuum as much as you can, with your filtration, bio load conversion and appearance standards in mind. If you use fertilizers or something anyhow, you might as well go big, keep it clean and make your dosing easier. If not, do math and watch closely.

 

My current 84 gallon planted tank never gets vacuumed since I got on to Seachem pristine. I add it at every weekly water change and there is no accumulation of muck as the pristine breaks it down so the filter can then remove it. Been that way for 8 months.

 

My current 84 gallon planted tank never gets vacuumed since I got on to Seachem pristine. I add it at every weekly water change and there is no accumulation of muck as the pristine breaks it down so the filter can then remove it. Been that way for 8 months.

this one is a better option if you are not getting time from your job or studies to vacuum the gravel.

 

If the substrate is gravel and not sand, it should be vacuumed with each weekly water change. There is no reason NOT to when you are in there with the siphon anyway! Why would you not? It takes no extra time.

I vacuum more often than water changes. Is this bad?!?!

You are changing water when vacuuming gravel. So I don't see how that is possible! Lol

Is this true? My ammonia and nitrites are always at 0 and my nitrate is much lower than 40ppm and I still do water changes.

No. Not true. Water changes are done for more reasons than just to control ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

Tanks should get fresh water weekly regardless of the parameters above. In my opinion.

 

You are changing water when vacuuming gravel. So I don't see how that is possible! Lol

I believe he’s using a gravel vacuum cleaner. Eheim has such a device call Quick Vac Pro.

 

Is this true? My ammonia and nitrites are always at 0 and my nitrate is much lower than 40ppm and I still do water changes.

No. I do water changes weekly not just for my water parameters. I just believe that the tank should be getting a new supply of cleaner water each week... Your filter can only do so much!