Cleaning gravel

[Alice]

Hi,

I was really shocked to find how much waste had built up in the gravel at
the bottom of the tank. Whenever I change water I use the syphon to suck up
the fish poo, and I thought I was doing a decent job. But setting up a new
tank I transferred some of the gravel from the old tank and found it is full
of fish poo, it came out in clouds when I picked up the gravel.

Obviously I am not cleaning it properly, so can any of you advise on the
best way to do this? I haven't used an actual gravel cleaner, just the end
of the hose I use for water changes so maybe I need to get one - any
recommendations or are they all similar? (I live in the UK.)

Is there any kind of mechanical filter which will actually clean the gravel
automatically, or is a syphon or power gravel cleaner the best way? I know
that undergravel filters can get clogged up with fish poo.

Also, I read somewhere that some people don't use gravel at all because it
traps fish poo (I think) - is this possible? Wouldn't that be bad for the
fish because they would get lots of reflections?

This was a 30 litre tank with a corner bottom box filter but it is way too
small and I am setting up a 100 litre tank for my two small fantails. Wish
I could get a bigger one but it won't fit in the house...

Thanks for any help.
Alice.

[[email protected]]

http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/care/care1.htm#cleaning%20techniques
http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/care/care1.htm#GRAVEL

going "bare bottom" is really zen. it is soooooo easy to take care of fish with no
gravel. use suction cups to hold plants on teh sides of the tank.
to change water, drop in a maxi 1000 pump, clamp to level of water wanting to be
removed. come back when the pump is making sucking noises. squirt in dechlor, fill
and that is it.
you need to change water to keep nitrates at or below 20 ppm .. nitrATEs not nitrites
which should be zero. Ingrid

"Alice" > wrote:
>I was really shocked to find how much waste had built up in the gravel at
>the bottom of the tank.
>Also, I read somewhere that some people don't use gravel at all because it
>traps fish poo (I think) - is this possible? Wouldn't that be bad for the
>fish because they would get lots of reflections?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[tanstaafl]

I'm not one of the experts, so feel free to contradict me.

Like you, I used to have gravel in the bottom of my tanks and found that
immense amounts of poo and wasted food gets trapped underneath it. It can
become a health problem for your fish. In fact, overcleaning gravel can
actually foul up the water worse than just leaving it alone.

A while ago, I removed the gravel from my GF tank and didn't like the look.
My solution was to get smoothed river stones ($5 a bag at a store, free if
you have a river nearby and a friend with a stone polisher). The smoothed
part is important, since sharp rocks can cut your fish. For a 100 litre
tank (20 gallons?), 4 or 5 bags of rocks should do the trick.

I put a loose, single layer of stones (stones barely touching each other) in
the tank. It seems to be a good solution. The stones give a nice
appearance in the tank and cleaning is a breeze. Poo and food doesn't get
packed down, so when I remove water, it's easily siphoned up.

BTW, I use the hose (only) from a gravel vac that I purchased at a store.
Threw out the wider part. The small diameter of the hose (about 1 inch)
allows me to get between the rocks. Does a great job of removing whatever
has gotten stuck between the rocks.

Hope this helps,
Dave


"Alice" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I was really shocked to find how much waste had built up in the gravel at
> the bottom of the tank. Whenever I change water I use the syphon to suck
> up the fish poo, and I thought I was doing a decent job. But setting up a
> new tank I transferred some of the gravel from the old tank and found it
> is full of fish poo, it came out in clouds when I picked up the gravel.
>
> Obviously I am not cleaning it properly, so can any of you advise on the
> best way to do this? I haven't used an actual gravel cleaner, just the
> end of the hose I use for water changes so maybe I need to get one - any
> recommendations or are they all similar? (I live in the UK.)
>
> Is there any kind of mechanical filter which will actually clean the
> gravel automatically, or is a syphon or power gravel cleaner the best way?
> I know that undergravel filters can get clogged up with fish poo.
>
> Also, I read somewhere that some people don't use gravel at all because it
> traps fish poo (I think) - is this possible? Wouldn't that be bad for the
> fish because they would get lots of reflections?
>
> This was a 30 litre tank with a corner bottom box filter but it is way too
> small and I am setting up a 100 litre tank for my two small fantails.
> Wish I could get a bigger one but it won't fit in the house...
>
> Thanks for any help.
> Alice.
>