Yet Another Tank Cleaning Question!

[Apollo_87]

Im sure if i tried harder id find the answer to my question/questions on here somewhere, but i thought why not start afresh!?
My tank seems to be fully settled now, and my goldfish is doing well. HOWEVER, i have been doing partial water changes every week/couple weeks since ive had him (since February), and this seems to be working out fine, but it was recently suggested to me that i should put my fish in a sepreate tank and fully wash down all the gravel, ornaments/fake plants and filter. And do a full water change. Now obviosuly taht would mean id have to do a full cycling again. Could this be a good idea or is it rediculous? The partial water changes seem to be going fine, i dont see why it should need a full change now, and is there any reason i should clean the gravel etc? Surely this would mess up the harmony/equilibrium etc in the tank, or however you describe it?
MANY thanks in advance for any help you guys can share with me
Thanks

 

[m00se]

If your water stats are holding well (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and the fish are fine, I can't imagine why it'd be a good idea to clean it all down. Who suggested that? Is your tank very dirty? Is your water cloudy?

If everything is fine, and your numbers are holding up to scrutiny, I don't see why you'd want to do a full washdown.

As for the gravel, that only contains minimal amounts of your bacteria (most of them are in your filter media), and it is a good idea to clean your gravel to get the large lumps of fish poo and other detritus out of it. You can do that easily with a gravel-vac (obtainable cheaply from your LFS or online) when you do your regular weekly waterchange, and this will help you stay on top of your water statistics by clearing out major sources of ammonia (rotting plant matter if you have any, large lumps of fish poo etc). Certainly don't wash out your filter media! If your filter clogging indicator goes on, or you notice slow flow through your filter you can clean the media, but only gently, in *aquarium water*, NOT tap water!, to get rid of any major gunge, slime, or large lumps of stuff, but be gentle with it or you run the risk of removing your beneficial colony.

 

[Apollo_87]

That great, just the kind of answer i was looking for. The water isnt cloudy no, the gravel i wouldnt say was very dirty a little but nothing id say to worry about, the boy who suggested it i dont think he knows what hes talking about, he said his father used to do it and is a bit of a know all. I'll definately get one of those gravel vacs though, thanks for your help

 

[waterdrop]

Completely agree with m00se, excellent write-up!

Completely cleaning a tank, if cleaning the filter and its media in tap water is included, is the most common way that non-hobbyists manage to kill their fish!

Gravel cleaning siphons are very important. They come in all sizes and shapes. You have to do some thinking about the practical sizing and using aspects before you buy, ideally. Its possible to get a very tall cylinder portion so that you don't have to have your arm down in the water as you move about the gravel, but in many ways a smaller cylinder with your arm down in can be easier. You have to think about whether your lid will have to be taken completely off and then whether this will deprive you of too much light to see what you're doing. I'm able to leave one of my light strips on during gravel vaccing and its very much needed. Also a shorter cylinder makes it easier to turn the cylinder upside down to lift it, filled with tank water, and let the siphoning begin, after which you make a careful quick move to put the cylinder underwater again so air doesn't make it in and break the siphon effect. A wider cylinder however allows you to clean more gravel more quickly and might mean you get more done prior to most of the water going out of your tank. Especially with goldfish, I'd probably be quite happy with the water change being 50-60% each week, assuming you've got good tap water.

So you open the tank, sponge down the inside glass (whether it looks like it needs it or not this can prevent algae early and cleans other things,) gravel clean all over, stop the siphon, (if its been a month you might want to clean your filter media gently in some of the tank water you've removed to a bucket,) if you're refilling via hose you dump in half the needed conditioner directly into the tank (otherwise add it to the buckets,) at the end of the fill you add the other half of the needed conditioner if doing directly to tank, you restart your filter if it had to be off, you re-scape your gravel and ornaments if needed, you re-charge your fertilizers/liquid-carbon if you're doing plants. The next morning it should look crystal clear.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[m00se]

Thanks wd, good to know I'm getting it right, slowly but surely

sponge down the inside glass

A quick note on this - you can use pretty much any sort of sponge you like to clean the glass, but make *sure* before you use anything in the water that the sponges haven't been pre-impregnated with any sort of cleaning agent. Some of the sponges you can buy in supermarkets etc. come with soapy-stuff already in the sponge. Rinse it under the tap, sniff it, taste it - just make sure you're not about to introduce soapiness and/or antibacterial badness to your tank! FYI, the cheap ones, 'value' range or similar tend to skimp and tend not to have anything impregnated - but check all the same!

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks wd, good to know I'm getting it right, slowly but surely

sponge down the inside glass

A quick note on this - you can use pretty much any sort of sponge you like to clean the glass, but make *sure* before you use anything in the water that the sponges haven't been pre-impregnated with any sort of cleaning agent. Some of the sponges you can buy in supermarkets etc. come with soapy-stuff already in the sponge. Rinse it under the tap, sniff it, taste it - just make sure you're not about to introduce soapiness and/or antibacterial badness to your tank! FYI, the cheap ones, 'value' range or similar tend to skimp and tend not to have anything impregnated - but check all the same!

Euuuuuuh! Good point m00se! I was just narrowly thinking of my own ancient little scratchy green sponge I use that's absolutely never had anything chemical on it (it fell off one of those sponge-on-a-stick thingies you can get in the LFS) and that I totally trust. Yes, very important for beginners to hear the info you've given! Watch Out!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Scvpirates]

Thanks wd, good to know I'm getting it right, slowly but surely

sponge down the inside glass

A quick note on this - you can use pretty much any sort of sponge you like to clean the glass, but make *sure* before you use anything in the water that the sponges haven't been pre-impregnated with any sort of cleaning agent. Some of the sponges you can buy in supermarkets etc. come with soapy-stuff already in the sponge. Rinse it under the tap, sniff it, taste it - just make sure you're not about to introduce soapiness and/or antibacterial badness to your tank! FYI, the cheap ones, 'value' range or similar tend to skimp and tend not to have anything impregnated - but check all the same!

Euuuuuuh! Good point m00se! I was just narrowly thinking of my own ancient little scratchy green sponge I use that's absolutely never had anything chemical on it (it fell off one of those sponge-on-a-stick thingies you can get in the LFS) and that I totally trust. Yes, very important for beginners to hear the info you've given! Watch Out!

~~waterdrop~~

most lfs sell tank cleaning sponges and usually work really well. make sure you buy the right one because the make one for acrylic and one for glass and if you get the wrong one you could end up scratching the glass or acrylic. completely emptying the tank and washing the gravel is a rookie mistake. doing this breaks down your bacteria colony in the tank and you would have to go through a full cycle again and since your fish is already accustomed to your tank it may cause issues when the ammonia and nitrites spike again. the gravel vac is the best way to clean the gravel.

 

[m00se]

For those in the UK, the own-brand, semi-value range 'Daisy' green sponge/scourer combos are fine to use. I just sucked on one of them and it tastes, well, like a sponge. That is to say, no nasty chemicals.