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Vaccum the soil to avoid algae ?

eminor

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Hello, every fortnight I vacuum the soil of my aquarium, my soil consists of a layer of jbl aquabasis+ and a layer of sand, i do this because i think it prevents algae, is this correct or am i doing this for nothing? thx

i have few fish but a lot of plants
 
I have noticed no one replied to this so I will give it a go.
When you watch youtube people seem to do water changes alot but not proper vacuum jobs. When i had gravel in my tank back in the day, I did spend lots of time sifting the crap out but dont now as I will suck the aqua soil out. I do a waft with something like a credit card and vacuum after. If you see junk building up, get it out for sure.
My issue is that I only have a nano tank and the vacuum takes the water out really quickly, giving me little time and control over where i clean.
I hope this somehow makes so sense.
Water changes are your friend! Friend.
 
Nothing wrong with keeping the substrate clean, removing as much debris as you can will stop it from breaking down and potentially causing issues.

As above though, I find actually vacuuming aqua soil difficult so I use a mix of a turkey baster and wafting to try and lift stuff out to siphon off. I also only use small diameter tubing as the tanks are all small and would drain quickly otherwise.
 
If you have sand on top, then if it's a fine sand, most of the debris should get caught by this and not go any deeper. With sand you normally see an area where this detritus accumulates and you can suck it out from there.
I wouldn't syphon down into the soil layer as you would likely just remove that and mix the layers.

I'm perhaps different from the norm but I don't connect detritus to algae. It can cause problems if you have far to much but with just a little in a well planted tank, you will see that it is utilised and broken down like a fertiliser before it lies inert in the substrate. It might look unsightly if disturbed or massive abundant but it's part of a natural ecosystem and in my opinion beneficial (in modest amounts).
 
I have noticed no one replied to this so I will give it a go.
When you watch youtube people seem to do water changes alot but not proper vacuum jobs. When i had gravel in my tank back in the day, I did spend lots of time sifting the crap out but dont now as I will suck the aqua soil out. I do a waft with something like a credit card and vacuum after. If you see junk building up, get it out for sure.
My issue is that I only have a nano tank and the vacuum takes the water out really quickly, giving me little time and control over where i clean.
I hope this somehow makes so sense.
Water changes are your friend! Friend.
I use a cleaner made with an air pump, I think I keep cleaning and changing the water, every week I have dust coming up, I guess it's the decomposed organic matter?
 
hover not hoover? maybe if you are distubing the sand too much its making it worse? go lightly.
i think i disturb it way too much, i go 1 inch deep

If you have sand on top, then if it's a fine sand, most of the debris should get caught by this and not go any deeper. With sand you normally see an area where this detritus accumulates and you can suck it out from there.
I wouldn't syphon down into the soil layer as you would likely just remove that and mix the layers.

I'm perhaps different from the norm but I don't connect detritus to algae. It can cause problems if you have far to much but with just a little in a well planted tank, you will see that it is utilised and broken down like a fertiliser before it lies inert in the substrate. It might look unsightly if disturbed or massive abundant but it's part of a natural ecosystem and in my opinion beneficial (in modest amounts).
i'v read that ammonia make algae spores to grow, so if i have too much organic debris on the soil there is more chance to algae ?
 
i'v read that ammonia make algae spores to grow, so if i have too much organic debris on the soil there is more chance to algae ?

Ammonia does fuel growth but if you have enough plant mass the algae will be out competed by the plants you want to grow (it's more of a problem with slow growing plants). Most people like a pristine tank and this will certainly help minimise algae problems but often detritus isn't the enemy it's a sign the tank is overstock or there is an in balance somewhere, as detritus on its own isn't a problem unless it's in an abundance.
 
Ammonia does fuel growth but if you have enough plant mass the algae will be out competed by the plants you want to grow (it's more of a problem with slow growing plants). Most people like a pristine tank and this will certainly help minimise algae problems but often detritus isn't the enemy it's a sign the tank is overstock or there is an in balance somewhere, as detritus on its own isn't a problem unless it's in an abundance.
That's why algae almost never come to fast growing plant, because they absorb nutrients way faster than algae ?
 
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That's why algae almost never come to fast growing plant, because they absorb nutrients way faster than algae ?

Partly yes but with fast growing plants the growth often stays clean because the algae doesn't have enough time to form on the leaves (unlike in anubias for example) before the plant is trimmed. For plants to grow quickly we tend to also get conditions good for growth and this is when the plant growth simply out competes the algae. An excess of nutrients, like you would get with detritus, is used in the estimated index method, where we dose fertilisers at elevated levels to promote plant growth. This excess of nutrients, if the tank is setup correctly, doesn't cause algae. So detritus could be considered in the same way and if the tank is run perfectly it won't cause any problems but if we suffer problems, it probably won't help.
There is nothing wrong with leaving a little detritus or removing it all, I think that water changes are the important thing. The advice above is great to just hover over the sand upper layer, sucking the detritus from just the surface of the sand without disturbing the lower layers, the plant roots will take care of the rest.
 
Partly yes but with fast growing plants the growth often stays clean because the algae doesn't have enough time to form on the leaves (unlike in anubias for example) before the plant is trimmed. For plants to grow quickly we tend to also get conditions good for growth and this is when the plant growth simply out competes the algae. An excess of nutrients, like you would get with detritus, is used in the estimated index method, where we dose fertilisers at elevated levels to promote plant growth. This excess of nutrients, if the tank is setup correctly, doesn't cause algae. So detritus could be considered in the same way and if the tank is run perfectly it won't cause any problems but if we suffer problems, it probably won't help.
There is nothing wrong with leaving a little detritus or removing it all, I think that water changes are the important thing. The advice above is great to just hover over the sand upper layer, sucking the detritus from just the surface of the sand without disturbing the lower layers, the plant roots will take care of the rest.
Thank you, i do water change every week, at least 30-50%, it seems to help to reduce algae "attack" thanks for your reply, lots of good info =)
 
Ammonia does fuel growth but if you have enough plant mass the algae will be out competed by the plants
That's why algae almost never come to fast growing plant, because they absorb nutrients way faster than algae ?
Hello,
These statements are completely incorrect. Plants and algae do not and cannot possibly compete.
every fortnight I vacuum the soil of my aquarium, my soil consists of a layer of jbl aquabasis+ and a layer of sand, i do this because i think it prevents algae,
As mentioned by other posters, doing water changes and keeping the tank clean is always a good thing. Organic waste produced by plants and animals accumulate and reduces oxygen levels and so removing these waste products improves oxygen which helps plants and animals.
Vacuuming or cleaning by itself does not necessarily prevent algae, but the sum of all the things you do, such as feeding the plants with nutrients and supplying good levels of CO2 (if the tank is CO2 injected) as well as keeping the tank spotlessly clean will definitely help to prevent algal blooms.

Cheers,
 
Hello,
These statements are completely incorrect. Plants and algae do not and cannot possibly compete.

As mentioned by other posters, doing water changes and keeping the tank clean is always a good thing. Organic waste produced by plants and animals accumulate and reduces oxygen levels and so removing these waste products improves oxygen which helps plants and animals.
Vacuuming or cleaning by itself does not necessarily prevent algae, but the sum of all the things you do, such as feeding the plants with nutrients and supplying good levels of CO2 (if the tank is CO2 injected) as well as keeping the tank spotlessly clean will definitely help to prevent algal blooms.

Cheers,
i read so much false things on internet, so how plants and algae eat nutrients i always thought that plant and algae was in a war
 
Thanks for the clarification @ceg4048 seems I'm just perpetuating an old myth.

Taken from the link in this thread Planting density for start up tank.


Hi mate, it's not so much the basket, but the rock wool which wraps the roots that serves as an impediment. Just pull the wool off and you'll be fine.

Errr.Mark you may have read that from the same place in The Matrix that Gavin was reading about swords needing rich substrate. The level of plant biomass has no relation to the nutrient level in this sense.

The concept regarding the advantage of high plant mass "using up nutrients" so that algae have no access to these nutrients is just another delusion. This originated from the assumption that plants somehow compete with algae for nutrients and so if we add only just enough nutrition for the plants, they will "use it all up" and will therefore starve algae.

But nutrients don't cause algae, therefore excess nutrients don't cause algae. If this were true then eutrophic dosing schemes like EI and PMDD would fail 100% of the time because the nutrient levels are always high, right? Think about it. In these dosing schemes the nutrient level never fall to zero. We ensure that by consistently dosing, therefore nutrients are always available to algae 24 hours per day. Not only that, but algae have permanent access to nutrients if they wanted it. Spores are in the water column, right next to your ppm of this or that. Spores sit on the top of the plants. Nutrients must pass by algae just to get to the plant, so if anything it would be that algae are first to feed and the plants would get the leftover nutrients, not the other way around.

Algae do not care about nutrient levels. Algae only care about the amount of light, the health of the plants, and the chemical precursors in the tank which indicate a failing system. These precursors include waste levels, ammonia transients, poor O2 levels, poor CO2 levels and others that we haven't even discovered yet. The bottom line is that algae "know" when the plants are failing. You should therefore always link algal blooms to poor plant health, not to nutrient levels, which are irrelevant from their perspective.

High plant biomass in a tank is advantageous because more plants interact more vigorously with the sediment (and with the water) and provide oxygen to nitrifying bacteria in the sediment, filter and in the water column. Higher biomass consumes higher quantities of NH4. High biomass produces more food such as carbohydrates on which the bacteria feed thereby stabilizing the tank system more quickly and more comprehensively. You can have just a single plant in the tank with massive nutrient/CO2 levels and this will not necessarily trigger algae. But if the bacterial infrastructure is weak or unhealthy, or if the plant becomes weak or unhealthy, then this triggers chemical transients in the tank which can cause algal blooms. This is not related to the nutrient level.

Cheers,
 
i read so much false things on internet, so how plants and algae eat nutrients i always thought that plant and algae was in a war
Well, yes there is a war between algae and plants, but it is not a war of who can eat the most nutrients because algae do not care about the nutrient level. Algae are predatory and they can get all the nutrition they need by simply attacking and collecting the nutrients from dying and unhealthy plants.

Cheers,
 
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