How Do I Clean Tank And What Do I Use?

[girl4God81]

I posted this in the Betta section with no responce, so this is maybe a last attempt. Any advice will be better than nothing, thanks!


My aquarium is brand new (about 2 weeks old). I have done partial water changes (2) and am planning on doing another one today. I was wondering when I should clean the gravel and all that? I also saw something online that hooks up to your sink and suctions the mess from your tank directly into the sinnk, as well as hooks up to the faucet to allow it to go directly in afterwards to refill the tank. Is that even safe to do? Last night I prepared water (with conditioner and salt) to add when i do a water change today, don't we need to treat the water before putting it in the tank or can I buy this little hose device to pour it in directly from the faucet then treat the water once it's in the tank?

Any other suggestions on cleaning the gravel?

AND, how long do I need to wait to do this for the first time? Doesn't good bacteria need to develop first?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hiya, it sounds like you've not cycled your tank before adding fish so you should have a read of this topic about cycling with fish. This is the process of letting your bacteria develop.

why are you adding salt? I assume the lfs has told you too? What fish are you keeping?

all you need to clean the gravel is a gravel vac, any sort of tube will do but you can buy ones specifically for the purpose from your lfs. you get an empty bucket ready on the floor by the tank, submerge the whole tube in the tank and make sure it's filled with water, put your thumb over one end to form a sela then take this end out of the tank and put it in the bucket, keeping the other end under water. Take your thumb off and water will start draining from the tank into the bucket. Stick the tank end of the water into your gravel and it'll suck out the muck, just keep doing this all over the gravel until you've taken out enough water. It sounds more complicated than it really is!

then run the water from your tap into a bucket, add dechlorinator and put it in your tank. that's all you need to do.

you should do this every week

 

[girl4God81]

Thanks so much for the reply!

I add a little aquarium salt mostly for the mollies. I cycled the tank for several days before adding the fish, although maybe I should have waited longer. The girl told me 24 hours would be ok but it certainly didn't seem long enough, so I waited almost a week before adding the fish. I have 4 platies, 3 mollies (1 pregnant!), and 3 betas. 2 of the betas are pregnant females and 1 is a male (but he hasn't shown any aggression and it's temporary). But as of tonight, I am moving 1 of the female beta's and the male out into their own tanks. So after that, I will have just the mollies, platies, and 1 female beta in there (8 fish total).

I have heard how to clean it out with the bucket and all that, but I saw something online about a device that hooks up to your faucet, and instead of a bucket, the other end of it dumps it right into your sink. I was curious if anyone had tried that.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok if you've got mollies then salt's good, however be careful what other fish you add as it will kill some fish.

yeah that's nowhere near long enough for a fishless cycle what your now doing is a cycle with fish, that topic i linked too should explain and tell you what to do.

yeah we do a makeshift version to clean out the big tanks, have a hose pipe with a powerhead attached to one end that pumps water into the sink then hook the hose pipe up to the tap and send water back in. However if your mixing up saltwater it won't work.