# Cleaning an Eco Complete tank...



## Angelafish (Dec 28, 2012)

Hi all!
Just put Eco-Complete substrate in my tank, and now that I'm running a more seriously-planted tank, I just realized that I'm not sure how to clean it lol...

So - do I vacuum it? Or do water-only changes? And how often (as a general rule...)? 
Not sure how vacuuming will work as it is a finer-grain gravel that will probably get sucked up through my siphon...
Also, I'm concerned about disturbing my plants, mainly the rotala and the wisteria, which have not yet had the chance to grow roots into the new substrate.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


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## twolovers101 (Sep 17, 2012)

You can vac it, I've used eco complete before and it doesn't suck up into the vac as easily as you might think. If you're really worried about it however, you can just skim the vac over the surface of it and just be extra gentle around the roots of the plants. If you don't bump them or get too close they should be fine 

As for how often that depends on 1) how big your tank is, and 2) how well your plants are growing. 

For a planted tank just starting out I suggest doing a 50% change at least once a week. Once your tank is more mature you can reduce the water changes, and some people don't do water changes at all once the tank is mature


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## Angelafish (Dec 28, 2012)

thanks! Just wasn't too sure about the necessity of vacuuming, since that substrate is hyped to have special bacteria to break down waste etc... So I guess if I did vacuum it wouldn't be depriving the plants of nutrients would it? And hopefully, soon enough I'll have a rotala/wisteria jungle in my tank with very little exposed substrate... that's my goal, anyway! 

Cheers!

(BTW I have to say I love your fish names . I'm a huge Russian and classical music fan)


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## twolovers101 (Sep 17, 2012)

The bacteria should be fine  I'm not sure if it's all it's cracked up to be anyway lol

Also, thanks  I love Russian composers xD


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## Angelafish (Dec 28, 2012)

Thanks again! Yeah, who knows? Everything's so gimmicky anymore haha... I got it more for the minerals and nutrients, and so far (after a day, even!!!! ) I can tell that the plants really like it!  Hope it stays that way! Plus the black just makes Theo's (and the plants') colors explode... just beautiful.

And yes, it's so cool (and rare!) to see someone else that likes classical music, ESP Russian, which has a personality all its own.  And the Russian language is my hobby/obsession/area of study/(hopefully) future career, so whenever I see Cyrillic letters it just makes me happy haha. I wanted to come up with a good Russian name for my guy, but... nothing really seemed to fit! If (when, that is lol) I get a dragonscale plakat, I think it will work a little better - LIke Yuri, or Stepan - something like that. Or maybe Chaika (like Tchaikovsky, means 'seagull')... Hmm now I've gotten to thinking lol..  I DO have an empty tank right now...


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## rickey (Jul 7, 2013)

You'll find that you will not have to vacuum as often. In use eco and only rarely do a deep vacuum.

R


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## Angelafish (Dec 28, 2012)

Thanks, good to know!


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