Should I be gravel vacing?

[Clovis]

I have had the tank about a month now and have been doing weekly water changes but no vacing. 

I have pretty good number of plants as you can see and am stocking the following in the 29g tank,

8 zebra danios

8 guppies (who have about 4/5 fry already)

6 Panda Cory’s 

one bristlenose 

one clown pleco

here are my test parameters so far.

 

[lefty o]

should you, well..... some people do, and some people dont. i myself do gravel vac, but with having plants i tend to just skim the top, maybe going into the gravel a bit. the idea being to get most of the crud out, yet leave some behind for plant food. its a balance. if you gravel vac, just dont keep going till you see it being 100% clean, as that is counter productive.

[Paul_Obermiller]

I agree with @lefty o, I only suck up the stuff that is starting to pile up but other than that I leave everything else alone. Just make sure you don't let the ammonia spike up too much or it could kill your fish but seeing as it wasn't that bad I think you're doing just fine for your first fish tank!

[FishyThoughts]

4 hours ago, lefty o said:

should you, well..... some people do, and some people dont.

@lefty o is correct.  
I’m more with the group of don’t myself. I usually only will gravel vac if I see a change in my tank and excess buildup on the substrate could be the cause. And then like them, I just try to take what’s on top and not get down into the substrate. 

[FrozenFins]

I gravel vac only when there is a noticable amount of poop on the top of the substrate, all though lots of people don't gravel vac.

[Tami]

same here - BTW I like your data tracking

 

[Clovis]

Thanks Tami. It’s this app I found. 
 

https://www.aquarimate.com