How Often Should You Strip And Clean The Tank?

[ZoddyZod]

Morning,

My tank has been going a year now and although I gravel vac during every weekly water change, I know there is still a lot of gunk to be found in the substrate. My question is, should I plan to strip it out and clean it, or is it fine to leave and just continue to gravel vac the surface every week?

I have a few plants in the gravel, but they probably only cover 10% of the surface area.

 

[Curiosity101]

Has it really been a year already? I remember when you were first cycling! Madness...

Anyhoo, remove all your decor, give the gravel a very very good stir with the gravel vac to kick up all the dirt. Scrape all the tank walls down and then leave it for a couple of hours to settled. After a couple of hours most of the dirt will have settled on top of the gravel or in the filter. Vac up the remaining dirt and then very carefully lift the filter out (try to get a container under it for all the sediment that might fall out), then give the filter a quick rinse.

Re-assemble and off you go.

With regular maintenance you should never NEED to do any of this. But if you've got some spare time and fancy giving the tank a very thorough clean then go for it.

 

[ZoddyZod]

yep, a year on, too much money spent and a wife who can not stand any more visits to lfs!

I was hoping for an easy answer, so can I pick the part where you say "you dont NEED to do this"?

For the few plants I have, should I leave them where they are and clean around them?

I'm also assuming that I'll need to home the fish somewhere whilst this is happening.....time to buy a bigger bucket (more money spent that the wife wont understand)

It took me 1.5hrs to plant a few vallis stems and do a water change last night (I'm incerdibly pondourous when it comes to re-organizing the tank)......I hate to think how long it will take me to take everthing out, clean and then replace! Better pack the family off for a weekend!

 

[Littlemonkey]

It's amazing that you think you do a good job with the vac. It's not untill you do a complete clean out that you realize how much of the stuff gets trapped in the gravel. At least once a year I completely clean the tank out. Not only is everything cleaned, plants pruned etc it enables me to re-scape the tank. I have a plastic container that I have the filter running and heater set up which the fish are transfered to while I do this. It certainly dosn't do them any harm. It gives you a good work out too.

 

[Curiosity101]

Yes you can pick the part where I said you don't need to do it!

And you can leave the plants in situ, it's just that you then can't clean that bit of gravel. And the fish can definitely stay.

 

[ZoddyZod]

It's amazing that you think you do a good job with the vac. It's not untill you do a complete clean out that you realize how much of the stuff gets trapped in the gravel.

it was when I was planting some vallis that I noticed the amount of gunk that was being released. To be fair, the way the tank is laid out it's hard to vac some places......the front 2 inches of gravel are very clean. The back.....not so much

 

[Curiosity101]

Mine was a bit like that. There was one particuar corner that gathered all the dirt. So long as I made sure that corner was properly vacced on a weekly basis I never had to do a massive clean. Even when I switched over from gravel to sand there wasn't really that much dirt that came up out of the gravel bed. So it really depends on where dirt settles and thorough you are on a weekly basis.

 

[ZoddyZod]

And you can leave the plants in situ, it's just that you then can't clean that bit of gravel. And the fish can definitely stay.

But I assume the fish waste near the plants would be beneficial for them anyway?

As it will take me hours, it's probably best that I get the fish out. They dont seem to mind my arms being in there but I think they'd get fed up with it for that long. I'm also a bit concerned with clouding the water. Isn't there a risk that I stir up some 'nasties' when giving the gravel a good clean?

 

[Curiosity101]

All I can say is I've never had a problem with the fish being left in. If anything i've had problems taking them out because of all the netting...and I managed to loose my male honey when he wedged himself into the filter whilst in the holding tub.

 

[Littlemonkey]

Yes the waste under the plants is good for them, but if like me you have a fair few plants (live) I only can really vac in the most accessable places. As I work full time I usually use one of the days over the weekend to do a full clean. I use a plastic container which was £5.00 to put the fish and plants in while I do the full clean. Its a job worth doing well, so taking your time isn't an issue. My other half likens it to the chinese water torture when I'm refilling the tank. His excuse for slopping off to the pub.