Carib Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Hi all, Just finished weekly water change and noted as the tank is maturing some plant debris getting into the substrate as well as some food trapped in the grass. It's a very fine gravel, bordering on being sand but not quite, and if I vacuum it to vigorously it gets sucked up really quickly. I was just wondering if there are any safe worms/critters that would turn over the substrate without having to vacuum too deep into the sustrate to clean? would appreciate any advice Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gollys Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 I have normal gravel and vac each week. My tank is planted too - but what I also do (which may help you) is when doing my gravel vac I actually wave the vac lightly over the plants too, and it will pick up debris as well. If you have alot of food in the subtrate - then you are likely overfeeding and this will cause you quality issues down the track - so be mindful of that when you feed your fish. Do you have some Corys? They like to hunt amongst the plant leaves for any fallen food too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Black worms will live and breed in your gravel discus/ corys love them and anything else that catches them too. Also considered a pest by most hobbyest ,cone snails dig heeps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carib Posted March 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 3 corys in the tank (180l- 4 Discus, 3 Corys, 3 neon, 3 black neons and 3 black phantom tetras, 1 clown loach, 1 pleco)- do a good job of mopping up leftover food, but it's the plant stuff and poo I'm concerned about, mainly because of the look-it's not heavily planted but the old leaves etc are really noticeable against the dark substrate, also would the worms do anything to water quality or increase the chance of parasites? I'm currently trying a wavemaker at the back of the tank(corner unit) and facing it horizontally at the surface to let the stream hit the curved front and dissipate the current. Did a a good job of keeping debris in suspension along with the airstones, and the filter intake is pulling in a lot more, prob means I have to clean it more often. So far the discus don't seem to mind as most of the strong current is on the surface (good surface agitation also as this system has minimal surface area) but not sure how it will pan out in the long run. Might put it on a timer. Has anyone else tried this with Discus?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottRock Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 The sand in my discus tank is easily vacuumed up so I tend to hover the syphon intake just above the substrate and any waste in the area is sucked up no problem. Another method I use is to stir up the substrate a bit before syphoning the water. The sand will fall back down to the bottom before the waste does and then I vacuum that area. I only stir up a small section of sand at a time to make cleaning manageable. I ended up buying an internal power filter for my discus tank to help clear out fish waste. I know discus hate a strong current (I learned this because the first internal filter I bought was too powerful and the discus went into hiding) so I bought a smaller one with a softer current. I placed it at the top of the tank to ripple the surface and it's worked great! My tank is quite tall so the current created doesn't concern the discus. I stopped using air stones as they were too loud and no longer needed as the internal was generating enough surface movement. It sucks up so much waste! I have to clean the sponges once a week and it's painless cleaning them compared to my external canister. Without it there'd be so much more fish poo and driftwood particles sitting on the aquarium floor. Another aspect I love about it is that it gathers all the waste into the one spot in the aquarium, making it more manageable to syphon out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozmo Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 I use the Eheim Quick Vac to do small clean up jobs in my sand based tanks. Not cheap but it does the job nicely. Quick Vac Pro You can buy one through AOA. Age of Aquariums - Eheim Quick Vac Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
