Cleaning Gravel

[Paul_D]

As a newbie to this keeping tropical fish I'm very happy how my new aquarium is strarting to develop (got rid of the BiOrb BTW). My aquarium is quite heavily planted which is making cleaning the gravel quite difficult. I've bought a cleaner/syphon jobbie but it's syphoning action is too quick i.e. by the time it's syphoned off the 10% water change I've had very little time to clean much gravel. I've also bought one of those battery operated telescopic vacuum jobbies with a muslin collection bag - but again, it's a bit cumbersome around the plants. What do you folks suggest is the easiest/best compromise?

Cheers.

[MrWiggly]

Hi PD ..

 

What sort of filter system have you got installed ?

 

If it is an undergravel filter DO NOT CLEAN THE GRAVEL !!! The filter relies on the bacteria that lives in the gravel, and cleaning it will just destroy those bacteria.

 

Even if you have an in-water or an out-water filter, a little bit of dirt in your gravel does no harm at all. Once again the bacteria that lives in the gravel will help to break down uneaten food etc. Not to mention the fish droppings !!

 

I used to clean my tanks by using a small-bore hosepipe siphoning into a bucket outside the tank. Just brush the top layer of the gravel with your fingers, whilst following with the "suction" pipe to pick up the crap.

 

I found that I could replace up to 1/3 of the tank water without affecting the life in the tank.

 

Hope this helps ......

[chesters1]

less food

[Paul_D]

Thanks for that. I do appreciate that some detritis is part of the bacterial cycle and also overfeeding is not good. I just wanted a quick clean up on a routine basis to rid the gravel of excessive muck.

 

I've a Jewel compact multi-stage filration system. But I've just included an additional air line into the tank to increase the flow around it. It's made a big difference to how the fish are behaving after only a couple of days.

[ColinW]

What you want is a fairly narrow bore fexible tube like an air line hose to dangle into the bucket connected to a short wide bore tube (most people use an old undergravel filter lift tube) to poke about in the gravel with. This gives you quite a slow flow of water but doesn't get jammed up by gravel. How you connect the two together depends on what you have available but it needs to be quite watertight or you won't get proper suction.

[Paul_D]

Cracking idea Colin. Many thanks.

[ColinW]

Not my idea mate, people have been doing it for years. To get a syphon started don't suck it and risk a gobfull, just push a couple of feet of the tube under the water so it fills up, then put your thumb on the end you'll put in the bucket and pull the tube you've sank back over the edge of the tank. As long as you've sealed the free end with you thumb properly, the surface of the water in the tube will come over the edge of the tank and once the level gets below tank surface level it will start flowing when you release your thumb.

[MrWiggly]

If you get to the stage where you wish to strip the tank and clean all the gravel, here's how to do it ..

 

Place all gravel from tank in a large container (Bucket/Plastic Bin etc)

 

Push hosepipe down through gravel to bottom of bucket. Turn on tap. Keep stirring gravel whilst water overflows over top of bucket. Repeat until water clear.

 

Best done outside of course !!!