How3 often do people gravel vac there tank with discus in it

[axl]

Hi,
just wanting to no how often do people gravel vac there tank with discus in it and how do you do it if ya have a planted tank without distrubing the plants and ripping them out of the gravel
cheers tim

[leanne31]

Hi Tim I try and gravel vac twice a week and I have all my plants on either driftwood or in a pot I have one plant planted so I just vac around it.

Leanne

[Katie]

Hi Tim,
I vac the gravel in planted tank every 2nd day and do a 30% wc every day, I did this even before I got my discus. I like knowing that its all nice and clean in there. The only thing I have to watch out for now is that the discus find the gravel moving in the tube very interesting, so I have to be careful that I don't catch them with it.

[DR.V]

I vac the gravel once a week with water change.
Dont overfeed your fish because they'll shit a lot :p
Just vac about 10cm ( in diameter ) around your plant, and it should be okay. Lift up any driftwood or pots if you got one .
I dont vac so often coz i dont have very much time

[Ben]

geez, i have not vacumed my gravel for about 2 months! :oops: i have only one tank with gravel and ever since i needed the tubing from the vacume i have not done it! :o
yep i know its very naughty! but the fish in the tank with the gravel are doing just dandy!
same as the tanks without gravel! :shock:

[goldenpigeon]

i gravel vac once a week in my 6ft. i just spend a bit more time than usual and get it all clean. after that it is fine untill the nxt vac.

[flukes]

You can tell how often you should vac, next time you do it see how much dirt comes out, then do it again in say 2 days. If its bad then you know that you will need too do it more often if its not bad or ok then try another day and so on, until you have found a good number of days between vacs..

It will be different between everyone, as it will reflect of feeding amounts and stocking of the tank...

Every tank will be different so your better off doing a little test so you get ttoo know your own tank..

[DR.V]

Dont you think the fish poo is a good vertilizer ??
Well of course you need carbon in your filter
to remove all the amonia ...

[Merrilyn]

Unfortunately carbon won't remove ammonia. It has to be broken down by bacteria in your filter, turned into nitrite and then turned into nitrate, which is less harmful, and can be removed by water changes.

Fish waste is good fertilizer for your plants, but a few discus produce a lot of waste, and because they are messy eaters, they tend to leave some uneaten food in the tank as well. This must be removed if you want to maintain good water conditions.