Should i not gravel vac every water change!

[Alistriwen]

Still says nothing about WQ.....Fish adapt. This does not mean the water is prestine....It ONLY means they have not died....Tests are the only 100% sure fire way to get a general assessment of your water quality...

Maybe with one tank.. but I have 22 and if there was a problem with the way I do water changes it would have come up. If not the adult fish, some of the fry would definetely be dying off if cleaning my gravel was taking out too much bb or releasing too many toxins. I have also done tests to confirm that the water is fine but that wasnt my point.

 

[Merbeast]

I clean the gravel with every water change, and I do it 2-3 times per week. I have tested before and after the cleaning and never noticed an ammonia spike. If you are having an ammonia spike after you gravel vac, perhaps something else is the cause.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Indeed it is the safest method, however my Bala's are still dumb enough to swim right up to the syphon, then I go to move it ever so slightly and they ram themselves into the glass at 10 m/ph and wonder why they have a bleeding nose.

Same with my chalcius. What a nervous fellow! Anerobic bacteria worries are mostly a concern for tanks with sandbeds deeper than 1".

 

[Burtess]

Thank you for that, Burt.

So it's H2S, eh? Can you please be more explicit on this? I don't think it's a good thing to have this gas in the tank... It gets formed by the decaying of organic matter under the gravel (in the absence of oxygen)? How can this be prevented?

Thanks a lot.

Sulfate-reducing bacteria work in a similar way that aerobic (oxygen-reducing) bacteria work to oxidize carbon, with a difference.
For sulfate-reducing bacteria to oxidize carbon, they get their electrons from sulfate (aerobic (oxygen reducing) bacteria use oxygen). Instead of producing H2O as oxygen-reducing bacteria do, they produce sulfur based compounds (including H2S).

Since they do not need oxygen to utilze carbon, they tend to dominate the anaerobic areas of aquariums, swamps, mud, etc...

It is more common in deeper sand beds (as Pufferpunk said) because the grains pack more tightly than gravel and there is much reduced water flow down into the substrate. If the gravel is not regularly vac'd however, detritus can build up and block the spaces between the gravel and cause anaerobic conditions.

This can be prevented by regular gravel vac's and the stirring of sand substrate to prevent any anaerobic conditoins from forming.

Burt

 

[Loulou]

Then it's a good thing that I take gravel-vacuuming seriously - the whole tank once a week.

Also, should I be worried about my catfish burying their heads in the gravel from time to time? Will any trace of H2S affect them much?

 

[brcacti]

So is it twice as good to remove water while vacuming the gravel than letting the waste collect in the bag with battery units with the water staying in the tank?

 

[Burtess]

You have to do water changes anyway, might as well gravel vac at the same time.

Those battery powered units that collect detritus in a bag are useless IMHO.

The more water changes the better...

Burt

 

[Liam]

If a gravel vac is needed every week....The tank is being overfed.....

I gravel vac every week and I don't overfeed my fish..

 

[Mystix212]

Also, should I be worried about my catfish burying their heads in the gravel from time to time? Will any trace of H2S affect them much?

This is generally a good thing as your catfish help stir up the substrate to prevent the build up of those air bubbles and other impurites.

Anerobic bacteria worries are mostly a concern for tanks with sandbeds deeper than 1".

In one of my tanks I have a deep gravel amount (2") at the rear for the plants sake which thins out the more it comes to the front. Without fail, every week when I do my gravel vac the substrate at the front will have next to nothing in there but the rear is almost completely saturated with brown things moving up the vac. I also, dispite my cleaning schedule, found bubbles seep up the vac when I cleaned around my big Java Fern.

What happened is that I pulled it out of the water because I was giving my tank a renovation. My dog was biting my ankles so I quickly shoved the plant in the gravel and covered the roots etc. Because I shoved the plant it so quickly, everyday air was trapped under/between the roots. Not sure if thats toxic or not. LOL.

 

[Wolf3101]

I don't clean the gravil with each water change nor do I even do water changes on a regular schedule. I let the test readings determain what tanks need water changes and how often. It must work too because I've had healthy stable tanks for a tad over 35 years now...

That said....I don't really see you doing any HARM vacumming the gravel with each water change. At one time, on heavilly stocked tanks I vaccumed MORE often than I changed water. I accmplished this with a converted Marineland Magnum 350 canister filter that I turned into a self powered Gravel Vac...