# Tropica soil powder - gravel vac tips?



## Nautilus143 (7 Apr 2021)

Hi all, I am using Tropica soil powder as my substrate and am really struggling to suck the fish poo/miscellaneous debris out of it with my gravel vac. Does anyone have any tips? My problem is that the substrate enters the tube and clogs it up, which then prevents anything else from getting in (other than water). Wondering if I'm perhaps going at the substrate at a dodgy angle - my tank is 145cm tall and I'm only 160cm, so water changes are a bit tricky!!


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## John q (7 Apr 2021)

Might be better to waft the muck up with a credit card or squirt it with a turkey baster and then siphon it off.
Just do small ish area's, syphon, repeat.


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## Emil. (8 Apr 2021)

You can create a kink on the hose outside the tank with your other hand and control how fast it sucks that way.


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## louis_last (10 Apr 2021)

Emil. said:


> You can create a kink on the hose outside the tank with your other hand and control how fast it sucks that way.


This. Also you can bring whatever container you're siphoning the water into up closer towards the tank so that there's less pressure. I had the same problem with a dennerle nano gravel vac and ada aquasoil powder, a combination of these two approaches solved it. I just pinch the airline with my fingers to decrease/increase suction as needed.


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## Nautilus143 (11 Apr 2021)

Thanks very much all - doing a water change this afternoon so I'll give this a go!!


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## GHNelson (11 Apr 2021)

Attach a small long bristled paint brush onto the tube with elastic bands/zip tie....use this to waft above the substrate and in amongst the plant stems! 
This is the best method Ive found when removing gunk thats laying on top of Tropica Soil/Powder substrates.


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## HustleRussell (13 Apr 2021)

In a planted tank with Tropica soil substrate- is it necessary and beneficial to hoover the fish waste and general detritus off? I understand that you may just prefer your substrate to look clean...


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