Cleaning small volume tanks (10g)

Sadie

I vac half the tank one week and the other half the next. I just skim the top of the gravel on the side I am not vac'ing to get any surface waste. You could get a hose smaller in diamater a try. You are still vac'ing but your water flow will be slower giving you a bit more time to muck about. I found the hose that I use 20gal was way too fast for the 10gal.

Crossett

can you tell what kind of pleco it is?

Lupin

Looks like a common plec to me. Definitely get rid of it.

fish_4_all

Don't feel bad about not being able to get to all the gravel in one water change. I do weekly changes and gravel vac every time and can only get to 1/2 the tank even doing a 50%+ water change each time. The best I can suggest to get to more of it is to just do it quickly. Instead of waiting for all the mulm to get out in each spot, simply dig the gravel vac into the subtrate then pull it out and move on, a majority of the mulm will still be sucked up and you will get to more of the tank that way.

leifthebunny

I was originally thinking it might be a peppered, but it doesn't look like it with that pic. I'm not sure wht type it is.

NeonJulie

If you drop down to the small size barrel gravel vac, like the 1" diameter size, it will really slow down the rate of flow. With my large barrel, I get to half of the gravel at the point where my filter intake sputters and stops because the water is too low. (So that's like 55-60%!) In the smallest barrel, I can usually cover all of my gravel before 30%.

The large barrel really does a great job of suction though, pulling detrius out from under things too and giving a great thorough cleaning. But if most of the problem is the routine stuff that lies on the top, you should be able to pick that up with the small barrel and go through a lot less water.

To be honest - you may all disagree with me here - but I just do not buy into this 'don't vac all your tank's gravel at once' idea, if you don't have real plants, and probably never will for a tank my size. Why allow nitrates to build, and an excess of dissolved solids to form? I also think it's a little bit much to think you can gravel vac the bacteria off of the rocks. I have never had any minicycles in all of my thorough, 100% gravel vacs. I used to gravel vac it every DAY when trying to rid my tank of disease - the bacteria never suffered. One moderator one time told me... "you're a stronger woman than I if you can suck the bacteria off the surface." I believe her. :P

It's much more of a problem of keeping my NitrAtes down, and I'll clean the whole thing as thoroughly as I can, to try and do that :/.

(And big fish are the culprits. Schooling fish add a small amount, but I can live with that. Dwarf Gourami pooh and sometimes even the Oto remains, drive me nuts to see collecting everywhere.)

GW

NeonJulie is definitely right on this one!
I did a water change on my 10g tank today. I used only the tubing from my normal sized siphon, because I have no gravel(fry nursery tank), and it took quite awhile to fill a 3g bucket. I was able to vac the entire bottom of the tank and still had time left to fill the 3g bucket.
Smaller Diameter Hose=Longer Vac Time

If you could find a way to attach your tubing to a section of "Uplift Tube" you could make your own small diameter vac siphon

Crossett

Thanks guys, i'll try a smaller diameter hose.

mHeinitz57

if you are having to gravel vac that much stuff out every week, there is some other problem going on. Either the tank is overstocked or you are overfeeding it. I agree that getting another cory definitely is a good idea. A pair of corys usually makes sure that there is no uneaten food left at the bottom of the tank. How much are you feeding the fish? It is definitely ok to gravel vac all of your gravel at once. I'm not sure where the notion came from that a lot of bacteria grows in the gravel, but bacteria generally colonizes in areas where water current is flowing and there is a good deal of oxygen. The only time bacteria grows a lot in your gravel is when you have an undergravel filter. Otherwise, the majority of bacteria resides within your filter so I wouldnt worry about losing bacteria from the gravel.

miagrrl

you need more tiger barbs- they will pick on your pleco (or any other slower moving fish- and possibly eachother) unless you get 6 + to school together. mine were very aggressive, and actually injured one fish so bad, he got fin rot, stopped eating, and then refused to come out of hiding until he died a few days later. once i moved them to a larger tank, added more- they are the sweetest fish ever, and havn't nipped once. i have 7 in a 30 gallon and that works out nice.