Vacuuming techniques

[Joel Armstrong]

Hi,

I am curious about people's techniques when it comes to vacuuming the tank.

I have been using a turkey baster with a short hose attached to the turkey baster and then syphon and vacuum into a 30 litre bucket. Empty bucket and repeat.

I'm guessing there may be a way to make this a little more convenient to avoid having to haul numerous buckets of water outside or to the sink?

Do you guys use a turkey baster?

What is your method when it comes to vacuuming?

What equipment do you use to vacuum?

Thank you for any feedback you're willing to share.

 

[BigWave]

I use a turkey baster along with a gravel vac and do about 1/3 of the tank per water change to not affect the bacteria and balance of the system.
I have learned there is a huge difference no one talks about with gravel vacuums. Ideally you want the stuff getting sucked up to be gradually getting sucked up. Not a very fast flow because then you don't get everything, its more water than gunk.
The circumference of the gravel vac and length of the tube play a huge role here. Guess it all depends upon how much water your tank holds, the height of the tank and how far down the other end is.
If you have too big of a tube you cant get the majority of the tank and have to do multiple water changes, which affect the bacteria drastically. You usually cant wait another week or two to do another vacuum job if for say your pulling plants.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

@GreggZ, after you've completed the reset of the tank, do you continue with the same light intensity and duration to which you were using prior to the reset?

 

[GreggZ]

@GreggZ, after you've completed the reset of the tank, do you continue with the same light intensity and duration to which you were using prior to the reset?

I run a bit less light for about a week or so after a reset. But not so little that plants aren't growing, just less intense than my usual. When I say it's a bit bumpy for a little while it's because the beneficial bacteria is catching back up.

 

[ryancamaratta]

I do turkey baster, I like @BigWave 's idea of doing turkey baster and then deep vac 1/3 each water change. Going to have to start that up.

I got a really good setup idea from Dave W, getting one of those 44gal Rubbermaid trashcans. Throw a pool cover pump in the bottom and vac into that, makes the back and forth alot easier because you don't have to stop and start repeatedly.

@BigWave how deep are you going w the tube when you deep vac? I usually go like half way down and try to start and stop the flow over and over with the soil still in the tube until I don't see detritus coming up anymore; I get divots in the sub and uneven piles next to them when I let the soil out of the tube, always feel like I have to turkey baster them again afterwards.

 

[Art]

Ryan, I do the same thing you do. I choose 1/3 of the tank and do it every water change. I'm trying to get my head around the pool cover pump idea. How does that work and what's the point?

I try to only disturb the top 1/3 to a 1/2 of the substrate with gentle back and forth motion. To me, a turkey baster is an uncontrolled blast (maybe it's just me) that goes too deep into the substrate. I will only turkey baste inside of plant groupings where I otherwise would not be able to get into with the python. The plants/roots keep the blast from going too deep into the substrate.

What we are trying to do, IMO, is to remove an over accumulation of detritus that is creating DOC and feeding algae. It can also turn into a mulm that blocks the substrate/water exchange. We don't want to remove or overly disturb the microorganism that are present and growing there.

I am also a fan of using corys and snails to keep the substrate "relatively" clean. Any of you use trumpet snails to aerate and clean the substrate?

 

[BigWave]

Oh I'd say about 1/4 in maybe 5/8ths. Enough to get that top layer of substrate but not deep enough to hit bottom.

 

[ryancamaratta]

Ryan, I do the same thing you do. I choose 1/3 of the tank and do it every water change. I'm trying to get my head around the pool cover pump idea. How does that work and what's the point?

Maybe I didn't explain it the best, so I have two 44 gallon cans on wheels. One is for rodi water and has the product line of my ro unit fed into it through a bulkhead/floatvalve combo that I drilled out near the top of the can (that line has an auto shut off valve); this has a pool cover pump in the bottom, with steel-reinforced hose coming out of it, around 10ft with a 20ft extension, so I can constantly run the ro unit without risk of over-flowing the can and I can reach any of the downstairs tanks with the hose to refill after a water change. Nice bonus, the pump is plugged into a blue-tooth switch with paired remote, so I can just have the remote in my pocket and turn it on and off.

The other can is an identical setup sans float valve, I just siphon into the other can when doing a water change and then I have a can full of tank water to wash out sponges or rinse biomedia in, water houseplants, etc, until I drain it either out the back door or down the drain. Hoping to add a cheap utility sink to the setup soon

 

[OmidNiav]

I cut three 1 inch long notches in my vacuum tube. This way you won't get a bunch of substrate sucked in since water can still get sucked in, displacing the sucked in gravel.

As far as routine, I vacuum the exposed substrate every week. Going deep if I uprooted a bunch of plants; otherwise about half inch deep.

 

[GreggZ]

I cut three 1 inch long notches in my vacuum tube. This way you won't get a bunch of substrate sucked in since water can still get sucked in, displacing the sucked in gravel.

As far as routine, I vacuum the exposed substrate every week. Going deep if I uprooted a bunch of plants; otherwise about half inch deep.

This sounds interesting. Can you elaborate? I can't quite figure out exactly what you have going on there.

 

[OmidNiav]

This sounds interesting. Can you elaborate? I can't quite figure out exactly what you have going on there.

 

[GreggZ]

View attachment 1106View attachment 1107

So this helps keep the gravel from being sucked up? If so pretty neat.

I use coarse filter foam cut into circles the size of the vac. I shove them all the way up to the top so if any gravel gets up that far it doesn't get sucked out of the tank.

It sounds like with yours it should pick up less substrate to begin with??

 

[OmidNiav]

So this helps keep the gravel from being sucked up? If so pretty neat.

I use coarse filter foam cut into circles the size of the vac. I shove them all the way up to the top so if any gravel gets up that far it doesn't get sucked out of the tank.

It sounds like with yours it should pick up less substrate to begin with??

I've been using these tubes for a long time and I rarely lose any substrate unless it's broken down and dusty. You control how far to push the tube into the substrate and leaving a little bit of opening above the substrate in order not to suck a whole bunch up. Other thing is that my tubes are 1 inch and less, so the notches are really useful when small amount of substrate is sucked in.

 

[Art]

So these are great ideas. Thanks guys. This is how forums are valuable to people!

I think vacuuming the planted aquarium is an “art” - no pun intended. I have gotten pretty good as controlling water flow up the tube so that I limit the amount of substrate granulas that end up in the waste water. However, this takes time and quite a bit of focus.

I really like the idea of opening some escape holes and also adding coarse filter foam. I’m going to be trying that when I get a chance.

 

[Ultum_Hiep]

I see that turkey basters are a pretty commonly used item in this thread and online in general. I have one and I do use it, however I find that using a good 'ol wave of my hand provides way better control and dexterity on the flow of water to do exactly what I want it to. The turkey baster tends to send a jet of water that can be hard to judge and control. After all, this usually takes place during maintenance which involves getting my hands and arms wet anyway. I do use a turkey baster on a regular basis when I am just passing by the tank or feeding my livestock, I kick up as much detritus all over the tank as I can so that the filter can grab whatever amount out of the water column so that the organic waste doesn't build up in dead spots in my tank, this is actually the #1 method I use to prevent algae from appearing in my tanks (which is crucial for someone who needs to post them on a regular basis)

 

[JPog]

I see that turkey basters are a pretty commonly used item in this thread and online in general. I have one and I do use it, however I find that using a good 'ol wave of my hand provides way better control and dexterity on the flow of water to do exactly what I want it to. The turkey baster tends to send a jet of water that can be hard to judge and control. After all, this usually takes place during maintenance which involves getting my hands and arms wet anyway. I do use a turkey baster on a regular basis when I am just passing by the tank or feeding my livestock, I kick up as much detritus all over the tank as I can so that the filter can grab whatever amount out of the water column so that the organic waste doesn't build up in dead spots in my tank, this is actually the #1 method I use to prevent algae from appearing in my tanks (which is crucial for someone who needs to post them on a regular basis)

Pretty much what I do as well. I generally will stir the gravel a bit with my finger while I have a piece of 3/8-1/2" filter tubing in my hand to suction out anything that I stirred up. I like to think of this as the 10 minute Tidy where you remove any unhealthy leaves or waste buildup around the tank.

 

[Ultum_Hiep]

I call them micro-sessions! haha

 

[JPog]

LOL, micro sessions, 10 Minute Tidy whatever you want to call them, I think they are even more important in tanks that are thinly planted since you don't have the plant uptake to process any decay quick enough. Interesting question is if you do these "micro sessions" daily or several times per week are you better off if the filter doesn't capture it since you are removing it completely from the system as opposed to it sitting in the filter for a week or two until you do maintenance on it.

 

[Ultum_Hiep]

micro sessions are typically daily (or literally any time I am around the tank and are not in a hurry somewhere), the turkey baster is helpful to keep me on top of it since I dont have to get my hands wet, I also keep a pair of "lazy pinsettes" which are giant pinsettes that allow me to grab and pick at things without getting my hands wet as well.

 

[OmidNiav]

I see that turkey basters are a pretty commonly used item in this thread and online in general. I have one and I do use it, however I find that using a good 'ol wave of my hand provides way better control and dexterity on the flow of water to do exactly what I want it to. The turkey baster tends to send a jet of water that can be hard to judge and control. After all, this usually takes place during maintenance which involves getting my hands and arms wet anyway. I do use a turkey baster on a regular basis when I am just passing by the tank or feeding my livestock, I kick up as much detritus all over the tank as I can so that the filter can grab whatever amount out of the water column so that the organic waste doesn't build up in dead spots in my tank, this is actually the #1 method I use to prevent algae from appearing in my tanks (which is crucial for someone who needs to post them on a regular basis)

So you kick up as much dirt as possible while light and CO2 are on? Wouldn't this feed the algae? Not that algae matters much, but I try to remove as much dirt as possible after anything significant gets released into the water column.

 

[OmidNiav]

@GreggZ here are 2 videos for you of how I use this contraption I bought on Amazon. I did the notches on the tube.
PXL_20230102_012257498.mp4
PXL_20230102_012257498.mp4