Water Changes - gravel suction question

[TREXRC]

I change 10-15% water change each week. My question is how often do you suck up the bottom (substrate is Crushed Coral) and let the CC fall back thereby taking out all the debris?

Reason for asking is this. I feed seaweed salad for my BF. Small bits of SSalad falls in the bottom. Though they get eaten, some get disintegrated. So I get a lot of gunk when I vaccum the CC. My water parameters are normal, except after each water change the Nitrites go up to 0.25 or so.

What do you all do? Suck from the bottom or you do it only once a month or so and take water out from the mid to top of the tank?

Thanks.

[thrlride]

I was sucking my gravel to solve a diatom/cyano problem at every water change and it came back immediately. Then I used a smaller tube and just sucked the diatom and cyano out and it is going away now. Not that you have this problem though. There is no problem in vacuuming more regularly. In fact if you did it with every water change you may lessen the nitrite spike.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

With crushed coral, I'd vacuum with every water change. There's really no point in letting stuff sit between the chunks of CC and rot.

[thrlride]

Here we go again der_wille_zur_macht. :)

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Ha! The classic one-two.

[TREXRC]

So the slight spike in Nitrite and sort of a cloudy appearance in the tank for few hours are all okay given the benefit of vaccuming the CC?

[thrlride]

If you do it more often the ammonia/nitrite spike will be less as you are stirring up less.

[Toddrtrex]

I have to concur with the above - in my 58g I have CC which I vacuum every WC (once a week) in my 75g I have sand - (but not a DSB) I will only vacuum there areas that my Diamond head goby can't get to. HTH.