Cleaning The Tank?

robyngunston

Fish Crazy
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I currently just vaccum the gravel when I am doing water changes which I try do twice a week...but the tank never seems to get clean. When I was much younger I used to clean the tank by removing enough of the current tank water to another tank..together with the filter and thermostat.....and with the remaining water I used to clean the tank and gravel, etc....once this was done and the dirty water removed...I used to fill the tank back up...treat it with a chemical that used to remove all the chlorine and metals, etc....wait a few hours until the tank was the right temp.....and then transfer the fish back into the clean tank. I never had any problems with my fish then but bare in mind I only had guppies, sword tails and a algae eater...which I believe are quite hardy fish. This was years ago....now I have been told that this should never be done and that only partial water changes should be performed to clean the tank.....that all the water should never be removed? Is this true? I just can't seem to get my tank as clean as before?
 
A clean tank depends on how much stock is in what size tank, filtered with what filter.
Weekly water changes in a tank with the right amount of fish with high filtration will be a clean tank. Also a clean tank can look dirty if there is any algae on the front of side glass.
If you want more help you need to post info on your tank please.

Edit: I just found your other post. The first thing I wounld do is buy a HOB (hang on back) filter. ie whisper, aqueclear, and run it with your other filter. Over filtation as long as your fish are not smashed on to the glass with the water flow is a good thing.

When was the last time you cleaned your internal filter?
 
I have cleaned my filter twice since I acquired the tank which was about a month ago...when you say clean....I took the grey sponge out and rinsed it out in water from the tank...squeezing it and pulling the leaves off....the water eventually turned a lovely shade of brown...is this the correct way to clean an internal filter ?
 
Yes, is there any chemical media in you filter?(zeolite or carbon)

BTW you should only wash a sponge about 1 a month.
 
Yes, is there any chemical media in you filter?(zeolite or carbon)

BTW you should only wash a sponge about 1 a month.

Chemical media? No I don't think so? Would it be in with the sponge?
I still thought maybe it needed a new sponge but I'm not sure?
 
No keep the sponge. It has your bio bugs in it. If you have no chemical media it is all that is keeping your tank from crashing. IMO I really think you need to get another filter to run with this one.
 
No keep the sponge. It has your bio bugs in it. If you have no chemical media it is all that is keeping your tank from crashing. IMO I really think you need to get another filter to run with this one.

I recently bought a small one for my hospital tank...I could use that as well?

Should I have chemical media in the internal filter?? -_-
 
I would get a filter for that size tank. I always run double the filters for my tank size. As I do not now what filter type/brand you all ready have I would just run it as is. You can run the small one untill you pick the other one up, what size is it for?
 
I would get a filter for that size tank. I always run double the filters for my tank size. As I do not now what filter type/brand you all ready have I would just run it as is. You can run the small one untill you pick the other one up, what size is it for?

The filter for the hospital tank is only for quite a small tank so I will have to try get another...would both filters need to have an aeration device?
 

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