Cleaning My Tank.....

[MadMan-JaMeS]

Hey,

I wanna give my tank a blody good clean on friday by means of emptying all the water and washing the gravel through.

Now its 566 litres so it might take a while so just a few questions for you all biggrin.gif

1. How long will my 2 externals last for without no water going through them ?

2. How long will the fish be fine for in a big plastic bin ?

3. Will i be best washing the gravel in tank water thus keeping the benficial bacteria or will i be fine doing it in normal tap water ?

4. Its likely to take about 2-3 hours thats emptying the tank and filling it back up again is tht okay ?


Thanks

 

[zaman]

the fish can be in a plastic bag for hours but i wont recommend keeping the for long. it depend if they are stressed it can damage them and the number of fish which can take up all the oxygen in the water.

well good luck with cleaning your tank.

 

[Phishy25]

Rather you than me mate!!! My tank was looking a bit grotty so I attempted to clean it last night. It took me 5 hours and I have done my back in! Mine is 260 litres, but I had to walk to and fro from the kitchen with buckets of water. My external was left for two hours without water running through it, however I left it sitting in the old tank water before cleaning it in the tank water. All fish were removed and placed in a plastic container with plants and a small air stone and they were ok in there for 2 hours. It's hard work, but very rewarding when you can stare for hours at your pristine tank!

 

[WILDER]

Why are you washing the gravel and removing all the water.
You will remove benefical bacteria out of your gravel.
Once you clean the gravel in tap water you will remove all the benfical bacteria.
Also you should never fill a tank up with fresh water you need to use most of the old water.
It will swing you into a mini cycle, and also shock the fish by altering water stats to fast.

You put the filter in a container with the fish and run it, also heater to keep the benefical bacteria alive

 

[Elaine2]

I agree with Wilder. It sounds like a recipe for possibly killing your fish. If you do regular, small, water changes, clean the glass, wash the filter pads in tank water when needed and suction the gravel using a gravel filter the tank will be fine. Gravel will never look exactly pristine once it has been there for a few years but there's a whole bacterial ecosystem in there keeping your tank and your fish healthy.