To gravel vac or not to gravel vac?

[FishObsessed 28]

I am new to plants in this tank. I included pictures so you can see the layout of my tank and the amount of rooted plants in my tank.  my question is, do you gravel vac around the plants or stop gravel vacuuming once you have rooted plants in there so you don't disturb any runners or root growth? I've read that some people vacuum around plants or just the surface of the substrate. Some info: I just added cryptocoryne today in the left corner. And I have aponogeton and an Amazon sword on the right side. I also have some snails too.

Edited November 29, 2020 by FishObsessed

[KBOzzie59 290]

When I do vac around my rooted plants I only vacuum the surface of the substrate as to not disrupt the roots.

[lefty o 355]

i gravel vac, but you dont have to vac it so its 100% clean. just remove some of the excess, and that will still leave some nutrients for the plants.  its a balance of clean or not clean enough. want to be somewhere in the middle. 

[ChefConfit 178]

Personally I don't gravel vac at all. I let the mulm get mixed into my substrate by my bottom dwellers to provide nutrients, but my tanks are sand or sand caps and very heavily planted. Since you're using a larger size colored gravel you may still want to gravel vac but just do the surface around the plants so you don't disturb the roots. Certain plants barely notice when you mess with their roots but most heavy root feeders won't like it. 

[Garren B 127]

I personally only surface gravel vac. Especially now that my plants are well established. 

[Fonske 451]

Larger/lighter colored gravel gets and looks quite dirty after some time. So in a setup like yours I would do a good deep gravel vac near the front glass, and a light surface-only vac around the plants to keep the tank clean and the plants undisturbed. 

[The nano tank man 31]

I see you used gravel. So most of your plants must be epifites. To be honest only go over lightly with the top of your substrate(gravel) but go into the gravel as to not ulroot plants. Also the fish poop and puss the goes into your gravel the plants will enjoy that.

[CanadaAmanda 29]

With a good amount of space between plants, you can likely do a surface gravel vac around them and then a more serious gravel vac further away?

[Fishmonger_X 23]

I gravel vac once or twice a year.... Lightly. Plant roots love that fish poop. A little clean up won't hurt though.

[Alesha 581]

Another thing to consider is how heavily stocked your tank is. For example, if you have tons of guppies, eating like little piggies & pooping everywhere, you have to vacc. 😁

But it won't bother your plants to do deep gravel vacuuming around them, as long as you don't push the wand right up against them & then push down with it. The edges of the tube could cut or dislodge the roots.

Keep a good distance around each plant, only cleaning the top of the gravel right next to them, & you should be fine to deep clean in other areas.

I hope that helps!