is this normal

[rockstar26]

i have a gravel vac and honest to god it sucks!! i find it's quicker to just take out all the gravel with a cup and dump it in a bucket to rinse out real well....

[Vikki81207]

I just don't get how the gravel vacuums don't vacuum the gravel up. lol

[Vikki81207]

I don't mind doing full tank changes either to get the gravel clean.

[dramaqueen]

Vikki, I have glass gems and was wondering whether or not to change to gravel. Is it easy to clean? Would I need a gravel vac?

[Vikki81207]

well I think its easy to clean. I do full changes like every other week or so and everything is fine. When I do the full change I rinse the gravel with hot water. I've never found the need for a vac. I guess its up to how much you feel like doing full tank changes. Plus I dont have a filter either. So if you have a filter you might not have to do full changes as often as I do.

[Ilovemyshiny]

Originally Posted by Vikki81207

well I think its easy to clean. I do full changes like every other week or so and everything is fine. When I do the full change I rinse the gravel with hot water. I've never found the need for a vac. I guess its up to how much you feel like doing full tank changes. Plus I dont have a filter either. So if you have a filter you might not have to do full changes as often as I do.

i do the same maybe in a big tank i could use a vac...acctually i still could for my turtles....but not for my bettas, and i dont really think its the reflection thing why they move stuff, my voodoo will move anything i put in there, he will start at the top, dart down into what ever is on the bottom, he burries him self and moves everything.

[dramaqueen]

I'm seriously thinking of changing to gravel. I do weekly water changes and my containers range from 1 gallon to 2.5 gallons.

[Angelmonster]

I use a gravel vac on marbles o_O just buy a bigger vac and push the marbles around, the debris will come up lol. The only bad side to marbles is algae is hard to grow with them and when it does grow you see it more then using a substrate of small stones.

[MrVampire181]

I've heard of them doin weird things.

[Vikki81207]

Well if your tanks are that small, then gravel would be fine because you do water changes so frequently anyways. So it's up to you.