Vacuuming gravel necessary? Remove water from top good enough?

[jmadden93]

Is vacuuming gravel necessary to do a proper water change or can I simply remove water from the top of the tank and replace it?

[Burbarry]

What type of filter are you running? How much live rock do you have? How deep is your sand bed? Whta type of sand are you using? How big is your tank? What do you have in the tank?

[leebca]

The short answer is, "Yes." However the depth you clean depends upon the type (particle size), and depth of substrate. Also it depends on the benthic creatures you have in the tank, what they are and what they're doing.

Cleaning the substrate is tied in to proper water quality and maintenance: What is Water Quality,