Gravel Cleaning

"atomweaver" wrote in message
...
When you feed, does any food make it to the substrate, and/or go uneaten?
If you agitate the gravel, does detritus get stirred up into the water
column? You don't have any bottom feeders in there, so no cleanup crew
for
your mid- and top-feeder's leftovers... I'd vacuum the gravel, covering
half of the bottom at a time, when changing the water.

==================
I've done the entire bottom at the same time and checked for ammonia several
times in the next 48 hours - there was none. The bacteria "stick" to the
gravel and are not easily removed from it. They're also all over everything
in the tank.
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

Köi-Lö $##$$@$##$$.#$$ wrote in
:


"atomweaver" wrote in message
...
When you feed, does any food make it to the substrate, and/or go
uneaten? If you agitate the gravel, does detritus get stirred up into
the water column? You don't have any bottom feeders in there, so no
cleanup crew for
your mid- and top-feeder's leftovers... I'd vacuum the gravel,
covering half of the bottom at a time, when changing the water.

==================
I've done the entire bottom at the same time and checked for ammonia
several times in the next 48 hours - there was none. The bacteria
"stick" to the gravel and are not easily removed from it. They're
also all over everything in the tank.

I was being a bit conservative, as this is a 5 gallon tank. Stirring up
100% of the settled detritus with each water change seemed like a bad idea,
given the small water volume *shrug* You're probably right... in my own
10 gallon tanks, I vacuum 100% of the gravel with every water change.

DaveZ
Atom Weaver

"D P" wrote in :

and sponge in it. I do weekly 20% water change. I want to know is it
absolutely necessary to clean the gravel in this aquarium? And if so
how often it should be done?

Is it necessary? Yes.

It is absolutely necessary? No.

Cleaning your gravel will dramatically reduce the amount of organic
waste in your tank, which is essentially what water changing is all
about.

You don't have to keep it spick-and-span unless you're using an under-
gravel filter as your primary filter--in which case a dirty gravel bed
will drastically reduce your filter capacity.

In situations were you have live plants it can be very difficult to
clean the gravel properly, and in such situations it may be better to
simply allow your plants and co-existing heterotrophic bacteria to deal
with the decomposition of organic wastes trapped in the gravel. Some
plant substrates (e.g. onyx sand) are completely impossible to gravel
vacuum. Monitoring the amount of waste you place in the tank should
allow a natural equilibrium to become established in your gravel bed.
Using gravel heating cables can reduce the potential for anaerobic areas
to develop in aged dirty gravel.

As far as how often you should clean your gravel, if you are doing 20%
weekly changes why not use a gravel vacuum/siphon to do it and clean the
gravel at the same time.