Cleaning Tanks

[jstephens]

Hi,

just brought a new tropical tank.

i have 3x guppys 3x neons 1x male fighter red and am a newcomer to this.

was wondering what is the best way to clean a tank?

do you take the fish out and put in same water somewhere else or leave in tank?

i wouldnt mind rearanging some of the plants, rocks etc but i dont want to halm the fish.

also, tanks temp is 26c is this ok?

any help is apreciated

thanks

jon

 

[Tsi_User]

I do my cleaning when I do the weekly water change.

The substrate gets cleaned with a gravel vac.
The glass gets cleaned with an algae/sponge scraper thing.
The rest gets netted and pulled out.

You shouldn't have to pull your fish out to clean the tank, just work around what you can and it should be alright

 

[K.J.]

I just need to say...:

You need more neons, only 1-2.
Don't keep a male fighting fish (if you mean betta) with the neons, the neons will nip and the male might mistake them for other males. Sorry to be unhelpful, but if you have an extra tank (1g min.) try putting the male in it?

 

[dwarfgourami]

A useful weekly routine might be the following:

prepare clean dechlorinated water in a bucket- enough to correspond to 20-25% of tank volume

have a "dirty bucket" handy

cover the floor next to the tank (to keep you and the hobby popular!)

switch off tank electrics

leave fish in tank

scrape algae off tank walls if needed

put the head of the gravel vac in the tank and the pipe end in the bucket, move head end so water starts flowing through pipe and into bucket

move head end over gravel to keep hoovering up any dirt, fish usually have the sense to get out of your way, though they may come up to nibble your hand a bit

you may want to lift up ornaments to hoover under them, but any plants can be left in place

open up filter- if using filter floss change it, clean part of filter media (e.g. one sponge out of four, every week=they all get a monthly clean) by gently swishing it in the dirty tank water you have just taken out

pour in clean water (I use a plastic measuring jug for this)

switch on electrics

the tank will now look messier than ever for the first few minutes, but after that it will look good, and your fish will thank you

 

[htaehnodrog]

hello, i am a new comer too. i have found this site really useful. I have had my tank for about two months now. I only do a 10-20% water change at a time. the fish do not need totally clean wter every time. Get yourself a long handled glass cleaner to wipe off any algae when you clean out the tank and don't forget to add a tap safe solution to the new water you add. 26 degrees is fine. Hope you get as much enjoyment from your new tank as I do.

Gordon from Penkridge