Cleaning Gravel...

Sleepy

So, I use a gravel siphon every time I do a water change but I'd like to give the gravel a more thorough clean than the volume of the tank allows me to (i.e. if I kept going, I'd drain more than 50% of the water).

I was thinking of trying to modify the inlet for the external filter and siphon the gravel with that, anyone done this before? Could it clog/damage the filter? Or is there a way I could drain the water out through a mocked up filter of tights / filter floss / something like that into a container I can then use to add the water back into the tank with?

vibe666

you could try dividing up the gravel into manageable sections and then using something like a large slotted spoon to take out the gravel in batches and giving it a good clean in a bucket before transferring it back again, but it would probably be difficult to do without stirring up too much muck in the tank.

another option might be to use the siphon to vacuum clean enough gravel to fill a bucket with tank water and then let that settle for a day and then lift it to a level above the tank and use the siphon in reverse to add the cleaner water at the top back into the tank again before throwing out the settled gunk in the bottom.

then lather, rinse, repeat so to speak until you are done. it would take a few days depending on the size of the tank, but you could ge t amuch more thorough clean that way by resusing some of the tank water.

fred funk }{

I wouldn't go messing with the filter TBH. How dirty is the gravel? If it's really dirty even though you vacuum it regularly I would look at increasing the size of the filter, that would give a high recycling rate and try increase the mechanical filtration too.

vibe666

or just think about transplanting the fish out for a little while whilst you give it a proper going over.

just save as much of the tank water as you can so you can re-use it afterwards and don't clean out the filter and you should be grand.

fungun

surely if you up your number of water changes temporarily, you can get it to the point where the gravel is ok when you are cleaning it?

Sleepy

Aye, I think upping the water changes is probably the way to go. Did another 30% change today before medicating the tank for a fungus the neon tetras are suffering from and that's already cost me 3 guppies, 4 tetra and one of the dwarf gouramis

Sleepy

Bought a new plant while I was in Seahorse (you can never just get what you go in for, can you!!?) and seem to have brought in some stowaways: some form of snail that's about half a cm in size and has a gold flecked shell and some tiny little worms/grubs that the gourami are having an absolute feast on!

fred funk }{

What you could do is, shake up the gravel before you syphon the water out. That will remove a fair bit of dirt.

Sleepy

I always siphon water out of the tank via a gravel cleaner. The tank has been getting roughly 20% changes twice weekly since Christmas (it would've been the more typical 10% per week prior to that) and I think the gravel is getting cleaner.

From reading on-line I think the white worm-like things are planaria that have been kicked up from my cleaning of the gravel. This could be a sign that I've been over-feeding the tank (usually feed once a day though quite a large pinch of food) so I'm going to reduce the amount of food I give them and continue the increased levels of water changes.

Another thing I've read that could cause this would be too much gravel. The tank has about an inch of substrate though I've piled this a little higher around some of the plant's bases to hide the little pots they came in.

King Krib

Sleepy wrote: »

I always siphon water out of the tank via a gravel cleaner. The tank has been getting roughly 20% changes twice weekly since Christmas (it would've been the more typical 10% per week prior to that) and I think the gravel is getting cleaner.

From reading on-line I think the white worm-like things are planaria that have been kicked up from my cleaning of the gravel. This could be a sign that I've been over-feeding the tank (usually feed once a day though quite a large pinch of food) so I'm going to reduce the amount of food I give them and continue the increased levels of water changes.

Another thing I've read that could cause this would be too much gravel. The tank has about an inch of substrate though I've piled this a little higher around some of the plant's bases to hide the little pots they came in.

Cut back on the feeding a little, this will help too.

Silverfish

Have you planaria? I got those after the big fish was sick and wasn't getting to the food as well as he used to, and the little ones don't dig through the gravel the way he did.
Cutting back on the feeding will definitely help, and raking the gravel before syphoning, I salted the tank as well but that was more for the illness than the planaria.

fungun

i think i get more dirt out by not disturbing the gravel first - most of the dirt is quite fine so when i disturb the gravel it goes all in the water. The dirtiest water i manage to get out is when i go straight into the gravel at the start.

dont think i have ever had less than an inch of substrate tbh, should be ok with that

WIZE

May I interest you in one of theses . I have one and works great

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/fish/water_and_plant_care/cleaning_equipment/water_exchange_and_floor_cleaning/126245

Ordering it from Germany is even cheaper if your buying more stuff from Zoo Plus .de

http://www.zooplus.de/shop/aquaristik/wasserpflege_aquarium/reinigung_und_zubehoer/mulmglocke/6094

Delivery to Ireland I think is 5,90 so the more you buy the Cheaper it is to send as they put everything in the same Box

I normally get filters , Liquids and fish food from here

Sleepy

Saw those alright... expensive little gadgets!

WIZE

the reviews are top on this, and it means your not removing your cycled water