Gravel Vac

Falina

How do you gravel vac without killing snails? I have loads of tiny little snails in my tank (I don't know what type they are - they kitchhiked on my plants) and whenever I gravel vac I always seem to end up killing them as they all sit on the gravel and it's absolutely impossible to remove them as there's too many, and where to put them anyway? I only ever kill a few and there's loads and they breed well so it's not like I'm wiping them out, but I really don't want to kill them at all.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Trishfish

You could try pantyhose or cheesecloth over the end of your vac. You won't be as efficient though. Or if you really want to save them, get a big vac, suck them up and pick them out.

Falina

A big vac is a simple solution, and I didn't even think of it!

Thanks!

Trishfish

I also have a thing like a rake. You could try raking them all to one side or the other. Good luck!

Falina

I'll try the rake first I think, if not a bigger vac would also do the trick.

Thanks again.

Trishfish

What did you try? Did it work?

Falina

Thanks for asking!

Last time I gravel vac'd most were on plants or on the side but I just used a wee scraper thing to move any on the gravel over to one wee section then I just didn't vac that wee corner and it seems to have worked.

Thanks for the suggestions, and asking about them! :D

tophat665

Now I have more or less the opposite problem: I had a veritable mongol horde of pond snails hitchhiked in on plants and overrun several of my tanks. The 55 I added loaces to, and that cleared it right up, but the Amazon tanks still have the occasional snail boom going. I try to vacuum up as many of the little F___ers as I can, but that's never all of them.

On the other hand, to feed my big loach tank, I take my water changes and pour them through a big, fine strainer, and that nets me a couple hundred snails from the size of a millet seed up through the size of a green pea. If you were to do the same, I supposed you could put them back in the tank from whence they came.

BTW, I use a 2" vacuum with a 5/8" hose for this.