# is gravel vacc'ing neccessary?



## wrathofgeo (Aug 23, 2003)

i was wondering if gravel vaccumming every water change was neccessary? as long as there are no nitrites, nitrates, etc you shouldnt have to vaccume your gravel right? maybe once a month or so to keep all the gravel looking clean.


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

You probably don't have to do it with every waterchange, but I would say you should give your tank a good vacuum at least 2 times monthly.









_*Topic Moved to Water Chemistry Forum*_


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## joefish219 (Feb 8, 2005)

vacuum is not nessary all the time but when there is poop sitting on the bottom it looks like sh*t. (pun) no seriously i vacuum every other water change, twice a month or if my water get cloudy cuz there is dead fish and part on the botttom.


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## neongreen (Apr 12, 2004)

Thats another plus for having sand, nothing gets trapped under it.


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## 2PiRaNhA~2FuRrY (Nov 1, 2005)

Taylor and Joefish are right!...atleast 2 time a month..But I personally do every time I do water change which once a week.


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## FohDatAss (Oct 7, 2003)

i have gone 3 months without a gravel vac...the problem is that if the poop get stirred around it can cause cloudyness for awhile and may also spike your ammo/nitrite levels


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## MB BOYS (Sep 8, 2006)

I do mine every water change which is every Sunday! It seems to keep the sh*t from floating around when the P's decide to dart across tank!


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Although I change 50% of the water 2 times a week, I only vacuum once a month. My tank is very well planted and it makes it very difficult to vacuum.

Ideally, I would do it 2 or 3 times a month.

Hater


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## MIKE JONES (Dec 9, 2006)

hell yes!, why wouldnt u vac your gravel? and if u have sand its good to vac a couple of differnt spots in tha tank to let bad gases escape, its a good thing, P's are messy and sh*t and uneaten food creeps inbetwwen tha rocks and covered up,only way to get it is with a syphon vac.


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## cfb (Mar 14, 2007)

gravel vac takes, like what, maybe 5 mins to do... no reason not to do it with every water change.

Randy
CFB


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## holmes14 (Apr 15, 2007)

yeah arent you using the gravel vac thing when your taking the water out anyways? just move your arm the extra few inches and suck up the crap off the bottom. I always vacum the gravel when i change some water, theres not much of a reason not to.... Do you guys leave you fish in there when you do it? im afraid i might be bit by my red bellys lol but i dont like stressin them out by taking them out while doing it, so whats better to do?


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## Draven1 (Nov 5, 2005)

I gravel vac with every water change, it doesn't really take any longer with a python.


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

Yes.....do them
Frequency depends on the bioload in the tank and specifically what type of fish are being housed.

Caveat
Certain planted tanks do not require vacs on a regular basis....ive got like 75 blyxa plants in the foreground of my discus tank which makes it impossible to vac, so i just python over the substrate on occasion


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

I also vac my gravel and sand with every water change. I hate seeing a stream of crap rise up after my ps zoom across the tank. This looks even worse in my tanks that have sand in them.
E


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

i do mine everytime. its important to get the uneatten food and poop out from under and between the gravel. this build up will cause ammonia blooms and also raise the nitrates which is BAD. i keep sand in all of my tanks which doesnt allow the build up like gravel will. it all rests on the surface of the sand for easy removal


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

My last setup I had a thin layer of gravel and I could just simply stir the gravel and let the filters suck up all the crap... My filters are so powerful that most crap gets blown right to the filter intakes anyways... But back when I had thick gravel with average filtration, I would gravel vac everytime.


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

wrathofgeo said:


> i was wondering if gravel vaccumming every water change was neccessary? as long as there are no nitrites, nitrates, etc you shouldnt have to vaccume your gravel right? maybe once a month or so to keep all the gravel looking clean.


George, in your case since you only have a solitary rhom in a 75G and as long as you feed him bite size portions you can go on a while without gravel vacs. But imo it is bad to not do them at all. If you have a thick gravel bed than I would do a small section (25%) of tank every water change to minimize stress on the fish... Jerry


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## wrathofgeo (Aug 23, 2003)

i just dont seem to have much crap floating or sitting around, when they zoom by some particles get uplifted but my filters suck them right up in minutes like aaronic says. i just wanted to know if there was any other specific reason for gravel vac other than aesthetic purposes and nutrient level raising quicker, which is water quality.

thnx for the info guys.


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer (Aug 22, 2006)

Vacuuming should be done as your changing the water. Whats the point of changing the water if you still have nasty ass crap in your gravel that will get stirred up and mess up the water again.


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