Ok, so i am constantly questioning how deep to vacuum in my planted tank. Obviously i dont want to disturb the roots of my plants, so i just do the surface around them. But i have 7 Piranha in my 150gal, and its heavily planted. Obviously they produce alot of waste, and i need to get it out of there, but i dont want to vacuum upall the goodness in my valuable substrate. At 30$ a bag and 7 bags later, i always cringe when i see all the fine black particulate sucking through my siphon. I was wondering what other peoples thoughts or techniques are?
Vacuuming substrate
- Thread starter Trucker84
- Start date
Don't worry too much about losing valuable nutrients. If you vacuum the top of the substrate, only the uppermost reaches will be cleaned. Anything and everything that has settled down into it should not be removed unless you really dig around. The settled material will be left alone for the roots to use. Your tank isn't exactly heavily planted, so don't worry about removing too much nutrients. One of my tanks is planted about as heavily as yours, has similar lighting and is never fertilized. I just do water changes (which include vacuuming) every week, and the plants do great.