To air stone and syphon or not to air stone and syphon

[DG17]

Hi guys,

i was was sitting there wondering last night while staring at my shrimp tank, should I syphon my tanks or not, I'm using Benibachi soil and didn't even bother to find out if a syphon from time to time was needed.

also with air stones what are the positives/negatives of using them?

any advice is good advice thanks peeps

[shrimpstan]

if looks aren't a priority then throw a sponge filter on the end of your airline instead of an airstone.. u will still have air bubbles coming out the top adding to surface agitation whilst having the benefit on extra filtration, extra good bacteria and generally shrimp grazing all over the sponges. :encouragement:

I dont syphon soil like u would in inert gravel in fish tank. disturbed soil will release ammonia and u may end up with a very cloudy tank and take a lot of goodness out of ur substrate.

[ineke]

+ 1 shrimpton. I just do a very light siphon off the top of the substrate being careful not to disturb it, that way I can pick up any left over food etc but if there are babies in the tank I only use a small airline to try and avoid them. I also have sponge filters in my tanks but on really warm days I will often throw airstones in as well to agitate the surface even more as I don't have a chiller.

[DG17]

Thats what I assumed with the substrate but thought I would confirm anyway! You never know. Thought about the using sponge filters might go grab some on the weekend..

[BlueBolts]

Despite good advise, and better judgement, I siphon my gravel ….. I've got this theory of DOC and keeping my gravel clean ….. there's some down sides to gravel cleaning my benibachi substrate (i.e. removing the fluvial grains as they're lighter etc…), so what I do is penetrate 3/4 of the way down the gravel, and only allow the substrate to reach half way up the siphon barrel, stop the flow (i.e. finger on other end)…the clean gravel starts falling back down, then slowing realising the other end in conjunction, so only the crap and dirt gets sucked up…… this way, the water stays almost perfectly clean…..hope I explained myself clearly enough….yes I know a video would be easier huh ….

[ineke]

BB you are setting my world upside down. i ALWAYS listen to you and take all your advice now what do i do:worthy::Scratch-Head: i might try it but its hard to take change at my age you do know that dont youaldvshlouqdb

[DG17]

Ineke,

sometimes I wish never asked haha, now I'm torn in 2 haha. No arguing with the master might have to give it a shot!! Guess it's def not a good idea to dig to deep so you don't dig up that huge layer of mineral powder on the bottom!

[ineke]

What happened to don't suction the benibachi because you might get an ammonia spike:Scratch-Head: that was always the reason I was given but all hail the master :worthy: guess I might give it a go - or not:worried:

[BlueBolts]

Oh dear, sorry, I have no intention to confuse the situation …. Dean will be against gravel clean, but I'm a stubborn old mule :-), so went down the road pif my own theories etc….. I have nano tanks, so my approach will be different to a person with larger tanks…. so PLEASE don't follow my bad example….just wanted to share my alternative approach.