# Keeping Heavily Planted Tank Clean



## Kyrenora (Mar 10, 2017)

Looking for some advice on keeping a heavily planted tank clean. My previous planted tanks have been much more sparse, so I can vacuum between them, then use a turkey baster to get anything at the base of the plants. However, my 20gL sorority tank has so many plants now that I can't fit the vacuum in without disturbing the roots. I really don't want to use the baster to clean the whole tank, but I'm not sure what the best way to do it is.

I was thinking about maybe getting a cleanup crew, but I'm not sure what to get. I like kuhli loaches, but I don't know if they would do the trick. Some people have suggested shrimp, which I have no experience with. What does everyone else do with tanks like this?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

My research leads me to believe, you're not supposed to clean the substrate of heavily planted tanks as it may disrupt the "balance". Snails and shrimps are supposed to clean them . . . . Tbh I doubt if they can do the job, consedering they too will release wastes. But then again there are lots of opinions I still don't understand since I have yet to set one up.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

I use an airline tubing hoover between plants to clean. When I feed my non betta tank, I stop the filter drop food little by little so that it can prevent most of the food to be wasted. I don't like to use a turkey baster. It can suck up waste but tends to drop before taking out from the tank.

I clean my tank twice or three times a week. It's a 8.6 gallon with 24 nano fish and some ramshorn snails. The vacuum cleaning never disturbs the beneficial bacteria in it.

I've never had shrimp, so I don't know if they do the cleaning job. I have ramshorn snails that poop a lot. They will still bother you even if they do the job.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

What kind of substrate are you using? From what I've read soil based, natural planted tanks, are not supposed to be heavily cleaned once you achieve a balance between plants, snails, shrimp, and fish. Here's the sticky thread on it http://www.bettafish.com/147-planted-betta-tanks/114575-how-natural-planted-tank.html


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## Kyrenora (Mar 10, 2017)

I'm using Flora Max substrate.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

Kyrenora said:


> I'm using Flora Max substrate.


I'd use an airline hose when you do water changes, you can use it to vacuum the plants, and you can hover it over the substrate to vacuum up whatever is at the surface. I wouldn't worry about deep cleaning the substrate as whatever manages to really get into it can be used by the plants as it breaks down.


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## Kyrenora (Mar 10, 2017)

Awesome - thank you!


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## sabrinah (Jan 2, 2015)

On heavily planted tanks I don't clean the substrate. I purposefully avoid it unless I have to move a plant or trim things. If you have the right balance not cleaning the substrate won't affect your water parameters at all. I always have zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and 0-5 nitrate, yet if you disturb the substrate at all there's a cloud of detritus and snail poop. I also have millions of MTS, so they do all the mixing of substrate for me.


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