Cave cleaning

[Illsavemyself]

To what extent should I be disrupting the caves in my tank when cleaning the gravel? Some caves that are unocupied I can lift and clean underneath although I do mess up the dug out parts that the loaches have created in doing so. But what about the caves that are occupied? Is it reasonable to lift bogwood off of loaches that are resting underneath just so that I can clean?

How often should I be making the effort to clean cave areas too?

[starsplitter7]

Hi there,

I do weekly water changes with a good vacuum.

Once a month I move the decorations to a different part of the tank, and clean really well under them to make sure gunk hasn't accumulated. Usually I move the caves slow enough, so that the residents hover under them and move where ever I relocate their cave to. After I am finished cleaning the area, I put the cave back and the inhabitants go with it. Usually my clowns and upside down catfish.

My Cories come out in force and follow the vacuum to snatch good tidbits. I have to go slow and be careful, because my eels bury themselves in the substrate.

I do not believe that what I do is the norm though. I have plants, but with catfish and loaches they do not stay planted. I am slightly overstocked, so I think I clean more often than most people.

I did over clean a few weeks ago and interrupted my nitrogen cycle. Prime helped me get back on track and I only lost one fish. I am still learning.

So this is just my experience, and I am sure my experienced people will also chime in. Tanja.

[Illsavemyself]

Thanks Tanja

I like the idea of relocating the caves but can't really work that option myself. My tank is heavily planted there are basically no new positions to move the decor to! I have 3 reasonably sized pices of bogwood as the main decoration which have to be removed to the kitchen to give me access to the gravel underneath.

[Jim Powers]

I have taken a piece of rigid tubing that will fit in the end of the Python flexible tubing after removing the vacume end. On one end of the tube, I put the intake strainer for a powerfilter and secure with wire wraps. This vacume "wand" can be worked under rocks and in tight spaces so that move decore does not have to be done as often.

[newshound]

I find with Martins river tank design (with less flow) I don't need to vaccum at all! The the gunk goes to one end and is sucked up the intakes. This means more intake sponge cleaning but big deal!
I use sand and every time I used to feed tons of gunk would be sturred up in the water. Not so now.
Once again I bow to you Martin!

[connor]

I almost never vacuum my gravel, either. Perhaps once every few years. And when I do, not much dirt is coming out. With 10x per hour water agitation not much gunk has the chance to lie around anyway.

I have ~6cm gravel in my tank, grain-size 2-3mm.

From what I've read, it may be even counterproductive to clean the gravel too often because when the grain-size is not too small nor too big so water circulation can get into it, at least the first inch of the gravel will work as a biofilter of quite massive size.
If dirt is obviously lying around everywhere or bubbles of gas ascend from the gravel you should give it a more regulary cleaning, though.

-Connor