My Discus and subsrate

[Stuquarium]

Hi guys.

i now have 5 discus in my 55G tank. i wont be getting anymore. but i've got a question for you about the subrstate.

it's gravel at the moment and i;ve found that since i've had discus the subrate gets pretty dirty.

i water 30% change every 3 days,

my question is, would adding some bottom feeders like BNs or loaches help maintain the substrate cleaness? i have 1 Bn in my tank at the moment or should i just gravel vac as often as i change the water?

[Sam]

get yourself a gravel syphon

[kalebjarrod]

unfortunatley gravel is a dirty thing

i find pool filter sand cleaner for maintence purposes

very white, easy to keep clean

(but you will still need that gravel vac :wink: )

[tank]

If you are new to discus I would remove the gravel
be warned do this very slowly and over a extened period of time
and get a gravel vac they are a poo machine when all is well

[DR.V]

there is no fish that will eat the poo pn the bottom of the tank. You have to clean them by vac them.
Gravel vac is not that expensive though, and they last forever ^^

[Stuquarium]

i have been gravel vaccing the gravel,

maybe i need a more powerful one to help clean the rocks better..

hmmm

[jwight]

Depending on the size of the rocks they may just be getting in the way. I would just stick to gravel. I found that when I got a new gravel cleaner it worked better but had to swap from sand to gravel because it sucked it up.