Cleaning gravel that has live plants

[Mavi]

I have a five gal unfiltered which houses my betta.
I added plants four days ago after a water change.
Tomorrow I am going to perform another water change but I don't know how to clean the gravel without disturbing the plants.
I don't have a gravel vacuum I usually take the gravel out and rinse it in a colander.
J'ai besoin de l'assistance s'il vous plait!

[Laki]

hm.. What kind of plants are they?? Bc I know for mine, I chose out of the list here on a plant sticky which ones don't require to be rooted. I have java fern and hornwort for this very reason of not risking their uproot at a clean.
I hope someone can help you with this before you can pick up a vacuum!! I think that would be the best option.

[Mavi]

I believe they doing require rooting, I have the names written down but I can't find them...
Would uprooting them to clean the gravel kill them?

[ldoerr]

If I were you I would get a gravel vacume. They can be gotten for fairly cheep. They make WCs much easier as well.

[Bombalurina]

It depends on the plant. If it has put down a nice root system, uprooting it isn't a great idea. It won't kill it (probably - depends on the plant) but it is bad for the plant. I'd suggest getting a filter so that you can just use a gravel vacuum and not do 100% changes. :)

[Oldfishlady]

Post a pic and maybe we can help ID the plants....you don't want to disrupt roots and usually its not recommended to do a deep vacuum around the roots anyway....the mulm/debris byproduct as it decomps will be used by the plants as a food source....

You can do a slight stir and dip method to bring some of the mulm/debris up into the water column then dip out half the water with your water changes to get excess mulm/debris...It should settle within an hour....if not you are either overfeeding or missed a water change....you may have to brush any settling debris off plant leaves too once it settles to help make the tank look tidy...

Depending on the number, species and growth state of the plants they can assist with maintaining water quality by function as filtration.....
But need to know plant species, number, stocking, lights, age of bulb, kelvin, watts, photoperiod....