Ornament Wood

Cleaning a heavily planted aquarium?

How do you clean an aquarium with heavy plants/decorations. Like drift wood, ornaments etc. Do you still vaccum the gravel?

A planted tank does present a bit of a cleaning problem. If there are open areas, you can clean them with a gravel vac, but you can’t really use one of these properly around the plants, or you’ll risk damaging the roots. If the driftwood is free, you can pull it up while you vacuum around it, but if it’s got plants attached with roots into the substrate, you can’t really move these.

I’ve found that using some fish and inverts to clean in these areas are about as much as you can do. Kuhli loaches, small freshwater shrimp, and Malaysian trumpet snails are the best – they’re thin and can get into tight spots, and the loaches and Malasians will burrow into the gravel just enough in seach of food and hiding places to keep it aerated and clean. If you’re not familiar with malasians, they’re only about 3/4 inch, hide in the gravel during the day, and don’t eat plants. Just don’t overfeed the fish, because if they have a good food supply, they multiply like crazy. If you feed as you should, they snails stay within reasonable numbers. The kuhli’s will also help keep the numbers under control.

Scroll-sawn wood Christmas ornament