cleaning

Question
I have a 90 gallon tank with a few live plants in it.  I have a dozen angels in there and a red tail shark.  I'm wanting to add more live plants to the tank give the fish some hiding areas, maybe some logs etc.  The question is how to properly clean the gravel and everything once you've added so many live plants and other stuff to the tank.

Answer
Hi Adam:  Just spot clean the gravel... the job of the live plants is to clean the gravel in the area where they live... Try not to over feed as well.  It is better to feed three small meals per day then one large meal as the fish are more apt to eat more of the food  more often as opposed to letting some of it sit on the gravel.  I would also employ the use of cory catfish.  They stay small and will not up-root your plants.  I use a gravel vacuum to clean the gravel but I just do it here or there in my planted tanks.  Another creature that is amazing helpful in a planted tank is the eel...or even the loach... they often times will burrow through the gravel and stir up gunk that is then filtered out by the filter.  Hope this helps.... dave