How To Clean My Tank

[Emily]

Hi all


This might seem like a silly question, but how do I go about cleaning out my tank ??. IV just got back off my holidays and left my friend the reasonability of feeding my baby’s..

To my horror the tank is green ; I can only assume she must have over fed them.

I only have a small tank i.e. about 25lt and 9 fish, but im really unsure were to start ??? Please can anyone help ??..

~ Em ~

 

[toshapetriji]

Use a fresh sponge to wipe all the surfaces clean. Change 30% water and repeat every few days.

This will help but really algae is not a concern to your fish.

Reduce feeding to every other day for the time being until things are under control and make sure no sunlight is getting to the tank. You can also leave the lights off for a few days.

 

[england]

agreed with above

keep up water changes to once a week, around 1/3rd of the tanks volume,,i beleive waterchanges regular = healthy fish
always wash filter media with water youve syphoned from the tank, never tap water

 

[Emily]

Thanks for your help guys...

IV just remembered that I have another tank the same size (As I used to have hamsters arrrr ) could I not put the rest of the gravel I have left from my set up. Siphon the water out and change half my filter ??, which just leaves me to wash my ornaments?? .

 

[OldMan47]

If you can get the hampster cage clean enough before you start, you could move everything but the algae and have your tank ready to go. If you start selecting which parts to move and don't choose wisely, you may end up in the middle of a new cycle. The gravel in your tank only contains a significant part of your biofilter if you are running an undergravel filter. Otherwise most of the biofilter will be in your filter.
It can be dangerous to your fish to disturb the gravel in the tank without cleaning it thoroughly first with a gravel vac.

Edit: spelling

 

[mark.w.jones]

Agreed with above comments. My only slight concern is the cause of the algal bloom you have had. Overfeeding is a contributory factor but I am worried that you may be over stocked. 9 fish is a lot in a 5 gallon tank. Even if they are very small species you are still likely to be overstocked. What fish do you have? Overstocked tanks often suffer algae and bacterial related problems as a result of poor water quality. They also can go wrong very quickly in the event of something unexpected happening ie adding too much food leading to extra waste and ammonia in the tank. It would also be useful for you to give us some readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[Emily]

Agreed with above comments. My only slight concern is the cause of the algal bloom you have had. Overfeeding is a contributory factor but I am worried that you may be over stocked. 9 fish is a lot in a 5 gallon tank. Even if they are very small species you are still likely to be overstocked. What fish do you have? Overstocked tanks often suffer algae and bacterial related problems as a result of poor water quality. They also can go wrong very quickly in the event of something unexpected happening ie adding too much food leading to extra waste and ammonia in the tank. It would also be useful for you to give us some readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Mmmm sounds like aplan to me, iv just come across these for doing the job of cleaning what do you think?(BATTERY, GRAVEL VAC, FOR, AQUARIUM, FISH TANK) .

A sound investment or not ??

 

[rabbut]

Not a sound investment, as it tempts you not to do waterchanges, which are the most important bit of maintanance. Get a traditional syphen driven gravel cleaner, then you can clean the gravel with your weekly 25-50% waterchange. With that heavyer stocking, I'd lean towards the larger sized waterhcanges, of arround 50% In a way, the old way of doing things effectively kills two birds with one stone With the syphen cleaners, all dirt is removed from the tank, rather than some landing back in the tank after the filter bag in the battery operated versions also, so it cleans more effectively.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[mark.w.jones]

Mmmm sounds like aplan to me, iv just come across these for doing the job of cleaning what do you think?(BATTERY, GRAVEL VAC, FOR, AQUARIUM, FISH TANK) .
A sound investment or not ??

Not, especially in such a small tank. I still feel your stock needs addressing TBH and until you do that, no amount of cleaning will fix it.

 

[Emily]

Mmmm sounds like aplan to me, iv just come across these for doing the job of cleaning what do you think?(BATTERY, GRAVEL VAC, FOR, AQUARIUM, FISH TANK) .
A sound investment or not ??

Not, especially in such a small tank. I still feel your stock needs addressing TBH and until you do that, no amount of cleaning will fix it.

Thanks for your help , iv had no problems with my tank or the amount of fish in it before and its been up and running for months now. The problem started when I went a way and left a girlfriend in charge of feeding them...

 

[mark.w.jones]

As I mentioned above the overfeeding was no doubt a contributory factor but in a stable tank with the correct stocking levels it would not have gone so wrong at all. Ideal stocking is around 1" of adult fish per US gallon. This stocking ratio should be stuck to even more so in a very small tank where the margins for error are so slim. All I'm trying to say is that if your 9 fish all reach 2" in adult size for example, that is 18" in total in a tank that only has room for 5 - 6" of fish in total. The only way that your current stock is going to be OK is if they all only reach 0.5" in adult size which no tropical fish do. There is no avoiding the fact that you are currently overstocked which will lead to all sorts of problems down the line and no amount of advise or tips will help if there is an underlying problem with your stock. All I can do is offer the best advice based on my experience and knowledge what you do with it is ultimately up to you. Good luck