TimboS
Tue Sep 02, 2008, 04:30 AM
Hi All,
Was just wondering, given the discussion on water quality and so forth, whether gravel vacuuming is actually something that can be left out during a water change.
Some say watch the amount of food going in, etc, and leave the substrate (of whatever type) alone - just change the water. This is to avoid disturbing any so called nitrate "pockets" that may be in the substrate and thus stops them from being released when vacuuming. Others say it's absolutely necessary to vacuum with every water change. Granted, you would normally think that if you do release some sort of nitrate concentration while vacuuming, you would suck most of it out, but I suspect not since it would disperse in the water pretty quickly...
I have just added another medium sized theme ornament and piece of driftwood to my tank and this of course takes up real estate, and makes it harder to get a gravel vac in to clean. Of course, in this case, I would rather do away with vacumming for ease of maintenance. Note however, that prior to these new additions, when stirred up, the substrate in my tank would release all sorts of gunk like decomposing wood, but it settled or filtered out fairly quick and so I believe quite strongly I am keeping things as clean as possible - after all, you can't take out your driftwood and clean it everyday (or do some actually do even that?!)
At the end of the day, if you do watch out for how much food is going into the tank, is it OK to leave the substrate alone and perhaps vac once in every four changes or thereabouts, or completely, under the assumption that stirring up the substrate is doing more harm than good?
Go easy on me - it may seem like a silly question but perhaps the authorities on water chemistry and quality can set the record straight about this business of nitrate "pockets" and any ramifications.
TimboS
Was just wondering, given the discussion on water quality and so forth, whether gravel vacuuming is actually something that can be left out during a water change.
Some say watch the amount of food going in, etc, and leave the substrate (of whatever type) alone - just change the water. This is to avoid disturbing any so called nitrate "pockets" that may be in the substrate and thus stops them from being released when vacuuming. Others say it's absolutely necessary to vacuum with every water change. Granted, you would normally think that if you do release some sort of nitrate concentration while vacuuming, you would suck most of it out, but I suspect not since it would disperse in the water pretty quickly...
I have just added another medium sized theme ornament and piece of driftwood to my tank and this of course takes up real estate, and makes it harder to get a gravel vac in to clean. Of course, in this case, I would rather do away with vacumming for ease of maintenance. Note however, that prior to these new additions, when stirred up, the substrate in my tank would release all sorts of gunk like decomposing wood, but it settled or filtered out fairly quick and so I believe quite strongly I am keeping things as clean as possible - after all, you can't take out your driftwood and clean it everyday (or do some actually do even that?!)
At the end of the day, if you do watch out for how much food is going into the tank, is it OK to leave the substrate alone and perhaps vac once in every four changes or thereabouts, or completely, under the assumption that stirring up the substrate is doing more harm than good?
Go easy on me - it may seem like a silly question but perhaps the authorities on water chemistry and quality can set the record straight about this business of nitrate "pockets" and any ramifications.
TimboS