How to properly clean substrate?

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It should be noted that all of these fractions and percentages are acceptable water change amounts (i.e. 1/3 of the water in the tank), but if you're gonna vacuum the gravel just do it all at once with whatever amount of water you're changing. Are you sure the guys at the LFS didn't say to change 20-30% of the water when you clean your tank? Because that would make more sense.

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Pomatomus said:
It should be noted that all of these fractions and percentages are acceptable water change amounts (i.e. 1/3 of the water in the tank), but if you're gonna vacuum the gravel just do it all at once with whatever amount of water you're changing. Are you sure the guys at the LFS didn't say to change 20-30% of the water when you clean your tank? Because that would make more sense.

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He said to just vacuum a section of the tank weekly.
 
Do you have a water test kit yet? If not, I'd highly recommend getting one that at least tests ammonia and nitrates. I would do a thorough cleaning of the gravel and a 30-50% water change and then let the tank go for a week of normal feedings etc. Then test the water and see what your readings are at.

If your nitrates are climbing to a high level, I'd do a 40-50% change once a week or so. If nitrates aren't too bad when you test them, you may be able to do a 25-33% water change once a week instead.

Just keep an eye on the parameters and you can adjust your cleaning schedule to fit your tank size and stock.
 
RampageRR said:
Do you have a water test kit yet? If not, I'd highly recommend getting one that at least tests ammonia and nitrates. I would do a thorough cleaning of the gravel and a 30-50% water change and then let the tank go for a week of normal feedings etc. Then test the water and see what your readings are at.

If your nitrates are climbing to a high level, I'd do a 40-50% change once a week or so. If nitrates aren't too bad when you test them, you may be able to do a 25-33% water change once a week instead.

Just keep an eye on the parameters and you can adjust your cleaning schedule to fit your tank size and stock.
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Ok thanks.
 
It is just basic and very generic LFS advice, in reality how much substrate you vacuum (and how you do it) and how much water you change depends on;
tank size
filtration set up
stocking level
type of substrate
depth of substrate
frequency of water change/siphoning

and probably a few other things too. You need to test your water and take note of how much physical waste their is in your substrate when you do clean it and work out if you're doing it often enough.
 
I vacuum surface of the sand at every water change (every 4-5days) just to pick up waste that fishes produced.. If you have thick layer of gravel - be very careful at going deep in it as you may release poisonous gases which kills fishes in matter of minutes

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I always vacuum the surface of my sand every water change. And then once a month I sift the sand on the whole tank. This seems to work for me


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D.Wolf said:
I vacuum surface of the sand at every water change (every 4-5days) just to pick up waste that fishes produced.. If you have thick layer of gravel - be very careful at going deep in it as you may release poisonous gases which kills fishes in matter of minutes

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How would i remove the poisionous gases then? O.O my gravel is 2 inches deep.
 
SePPii said:
I always vacuum the surface of my sand every water change. And then once a month I sift the sand on the whole tank. This seems to work for me


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Do you sift it with a sifter? Also what type of sand do you use. I may switch to sand as it seems easier to clean and will be more time efficient. because it is easy to clean this may keep nitrates down. btw when you sift through your sand do you ever have any detritus under the sand or do is it always on top of the sand?
 
David R said:
It is just basic and very generic LFS advice, in reality how much substrate you vacuum (and how you do it) and how much water you change depends on;
tank size
filtration set up
stocking level
type of substrate
depth of substrate
frequency of water change/siphoning

and probably a few other things too. You need to test your water and take note of how much physical waste their is in your substrate when you do clean it and work out if you're doing it often enough.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks for the advice.
 
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