pulling plants in a dirt tank

If you aren't especially wanting to preserve the root systems on the plants you're removing, it can help to run a knife around the base of the plant to cut the roots.

Always be sure to do a big water change after pulling up plants, this can really cut down on ammonia spikes and algae blooms from the stirred up debris.

Slowly. Anything that comes up to the surface just vacuum up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

I've got pretty decent results by pulling slowly and doing kind of a shaking motion when I pull it. That will allow the dirt and stuff to fall down around around the roots and not make such a big mess. A lot of stem plants can be cut at the substrate level so you don't disturb the dirt. A corkscrew val isn't one of those and you'll need to be careful when pulling it. It doesn't need too many roots so if you can get a few exposed you can cut the rest and not risk making a huge mess.