How often do you need to vacuum the gravel in a tank?

Answer 1

ok - all vacuum fanatics can blame me for the following ;)

i do not vacuum the gravel...

reason is: necessary bacteria would loose their food. therefore i have some apple snails (Asonele spixi) and red fire shrimps (Neocaridina denticulata sinensis, var. red) that keep the gravel clean - also these animals are an enrichment of your aquarium biotope.

what i do though is a 20% water change once a week and a 50% water change once a month. i got three 1,000 litres tanks (260 US-gallons, 240 UK-gallons), one is south american (discus, scalare, lots of catfish and gouramis), one is southeast asian (several barbs and loaches, makropodes) and one is african (malawi cichlids) - so i had to figure out a pump system that does the work for me ;)

best wishes!

Answer 2

don't clean the gravel more than once a month, and only clean half at a time because you have a cologny of beneficial bacteria in the gravel which helps to break down the watse in the tank.

Answer 3

Well when I started out, I only did it once a month, but that's not good for the fish, and that's when nitrites and nitrate and ammonia start to spike. To keep your tank healthy do it whenever you dp the weekly 25-50% water change. It's be easier for you and the tank will be much cleaner, and your fish will probably thank you.

Answer 4

either purchase a test kit or take your water to a petstore to have it tested, you should not gravel syphon a tank unless the water test tells you that the waste level requires a water change. If you dont test your water, you could over clean a tank that is not due, or wait to long to gravel syphon and you could risk your fish.

Answer 5

I do it once a week when I do my water change on my goldfish tanks and once every other week on my tropicals. Never take out more then 50% of the water each cleaning, you can cause your tank to go through another cycle which can be harmful to your fish.

Answer 6

If you have cold water fish, you have to do it more often...they create more feces...from my experience. But, it shouldnt be done not more than twice a month. Tropicals dont require it near as often..maybe once a month. Only do a complete water change once every 60 days. More often than that and your fish will become sick and go into shock b/c they are constantly trying to get used to a new envrionment.

Answer 7

I vacuum my tank once every month.

Answer 8

Hooray for Talisy77 it is nice to see a person in a pet department know what to do !!!!!!!!!!!!
So many just act like they do=---gratsn Talisy