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Cleaning small volume tanks (10g)

4K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  Andyandsue 
#1 ·
I can't get more than half of the gravel in my 10 gallon vacuumed before i've sucked out 30-40% of the water. Is there some product/method i'm not aware of that would let me vacuum for longer without using so much water? Or is this just a downside to a small volume aquarium?
 
#2 ·
Do you have fairly prolific fish? I have three 12g now and right now, none of them are even filling up the substrate so I only vacuum it once every other week and I can get in the whole floor. If your fish are producing that much, you might want to consider twice weekly changes.
 
#3 ·
leifthebunny said:
Do you have fairly prolific fish? I have three 12g now and right now, none of them are even filling up the substrate so I only vacuum it once every other week and I can get in the whole floor. If your fish are producing that much, you might want to consider twice weekly changes.
3 tiger barbs
1 cherry barb
1 catfish
1 pleco
 
#4 ·
First, I would look to moving the fish to a larger tank. Tiger barbs get to be 3" each and they require quite a bit of space to move around in. I have tiger barbs in a 90g and there are times when even that seems a bit small for them with how mobile they are. My cherry barbs are pretty active in the other 90g, but they are smaller and aren't as active as the tigers. As for the pleco, they do tend to be heavy impact on the bioload and prolific poopers. If it's a common pleco, it will definitely outgrow the 10g.

Do you know what the other kind of catfish is?
 
#6 ·
That is a Cory (Corydoras) Catfish. They prefer to to be in groups. It's hard to tell from the pic which type it is. I like Cory cats. A fun catfish. The more you have, the more entertaining they are to watch. They will get to be 3" or so for most varieties.

As for the nipping, tiger barbs do get pretty nippy in groups less than 6.
 
#7 ·
Your pleco is pushing everything to the limit. What species is that? Plecos are very messy and are large waste producers. They are mainly the contributors of too much wastes around your tank.

I'd replace the pleco for more cories if I were you.
 
#9 ·
Lupin said:
Your pleco is pushing everything to the limit. What species is that? Plecos are very messy and are large waste producers. They are mainly the contributors of too much wastes around your tank.

I'd replace the pleco for more cories if I were you.
cories dont clean the glass though, right? i'd rather get a larger tank than get rid of the pleco. let me see if i can get a shot of him, he likes to hide a lot.
 
#10 ·
Cories do not clean the glass. Best to clean the tank glass by yourself rather than rely on a plec. In this case, you are likely to have lesser troubles with your water parameters and even tank maintenance. If that plec is a common plec, it'll quickly outgrow your 10 gallons and at 12 inches and bigger, it'll need a very large tank preferably 55 gallons.
 
#11 ·
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.
 
#12 ·
Lupin said:
Cories do not clean the glass. Best to clean the tank glass by yourself rather than rely on a plec. In this case, you are likely to have lesser troubles with your water parameters and even tank maintenance. If that plec is a common plec, it'll quickly outgrow your 10 gallons and at 12 inches and bigger, it'll need a very large tank preferably 55 gallons.
can you tell what kind of pleco it is?

 
#13 ·
Looks like a common plec to me. Definitely get rid of it.
 
#14 ·
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.
 
#16 ·
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.)
 
#17 ·
NeonJulie said:
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.
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 :wink:
 
#19 ·
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.
 
#20 ·
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.
 
#21 ·
While I think everyone here had some great advice and I think you should give the pleco a new home because your tank is small and plecos are big poopers. I am in the same situation so I have a practical answer for you.

To start, I use a fairly small gravel siphon vac. The trick is once you get the siphon running to keep the bucket or whatever you are using for the water up high (I keep mine on the counter) so the water flow slows down. If I put it on the floor the water swooshes out of there so fast I literally have 2 minutes of vacuum time.

I vacuum once a week, a little here a little there with no distinct pattern or method.

Also, you might want to add a little melafix for the nipped fins. It works wonders.
 
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