Tank Cleaning...

[fmervin]

Hello all,

After almost a month having my tank running with three fishes, I learned that I need to clean the sand substrate (I know it's stupid, but hey I'm an innocent newbie). I could not believe how dirty the bed was and not to mention that the tank glass was covered with algae. I just wanted to know if the steps I followed will cause any problems with my cycle? My tank is almost cycled, nitrites are steady between 0.3 - 0.4 and the lfs reckons it could be the dirt that's causing the nitrites to be steady. So here are my steps and do let me know if I did anything wrong at any stage so I won't repeat it in the future.

1. Cleaned the tank glass with the algae scraper
2. Removed all the plants, ornaments everything (I know I don't require to do this but since I have not cleaned the sand substrate for almost a month I thought it would be better to have no obstructions)
3. Started the syphon (I couldn't get this to work automatically so I required to suck on the other end till the flow started, luckily I didn't get any in my mouth )

Now, here is the bit I'm not sure of:
Since I have never used a syphon before, I was sucking less crap and more water. So after 2 (10ltr) buckets the bed still looked dirty and the water level was (obviously) dropping. I read somewhere that the filter media should be wet at all times, so I took out the media and chucked it in the tank. But in doing so, all the crap (small leaves and other crap) from the media got into the sand making it really dirty. So after syphoning 3 more (10ltr) buckets, the bed was cleaner but still dirty and fishes had only an inch of water. Phew! So added a couple of buckets of water (dechlorinated) into the tank to get the water level up. And syphoned one more bucket, I ploughed the sand with my fingers to release the bubbles and also get any dirt settled into the bed. I then syphoned another bucket.

Now in all this, I noticed that sand would keeping settling on the media. I would rinse it in the tank water to get the sand off. I then cleaned the ornaments, re-planted the tank, put the ornaments back in and filled up the tank. I think in all I did around a 70-80% water change, perhaps more

Does anyone see any issues with what I have done? If so, how can I remedy it? The reason I am a bit nervous is that while doing the water changes in the first week, I would rinse the filter media in a mug of tank water and throw the water. I would do this around 3 times. Someone told me that this is not required and caused my tank to go into a mini cycle (since the nitrites started increasing after that). I'm afraid the same thing will happen again.

This entire experience took me around 3 hours. I know it won't take me this long if I do it every week (or twice a week?), but if nothing interrupts the cycle it would be worthwile. On the positive side, the tank looks great again and fishes seem to be enjoying the clean tank (for now). I'll take a reading of the water parameters and post you the results

And oh, P.S: Sorry for the long post

 

[loachman]

You shouldnt need to take the media from the filter for that reason. It won't dry out in the normal time it takes to clean the tank (~15 mins). What type of fitler is it?

You may want to take the filter media out and shake it into a bucket of siphon tank water to clean the debris from it.

Generally, a 70-80% water change is pretty high. Aim for 20-50% a week (most people stick to the lower end it seems).

 

[-germ-]

Rather than letting the tank water get so low, if you feel you have to do a large water change, syphon off 10%-20% and then top the water back up before repeating the process. But unless in response to a problem most people tend to do 20%-
25% weekly at a maximum. If you have reophilic(?) fish that like fast, fresh water in most cases i'd do 20% every other day.
What do you put into your replacement water, just a dechlorinator? And did you match the water parameters between the water n your tank and the water you'd be adding?
You've obviously learnt not to put the filter media into your tank but still avoid that one, rinse it fortnightly in tank water by squeezing it out gently.

 

[fmervin]

Thanks guys

You shouldnt need to take the media from the filter for that reason. It won't dry out in the normal time it takes to clean the tank (~15 mins). What type of fitler is it?

Wow, 15 mins. It took me close to 3 hours and the media would definitely have dried by then. It's an internal filter and it came with my tank (aquastart 500)

Generally, a 70-80% water change is pretty high. Aim for 20-50% a week (most people stick to the lower end it seems).

The lfs also told me not to change more than 50%. TBH, I did not plan on such a large water change, just that there was so much debris and the fact that it took me a while to get used to the syphon, so ended up taking out 2-3 buckets more than I should have. Do you think this would cause a problem? I generally aim for around 25% every week.

What do you put into your replacement water, just a dechlorinator? And did you match the water parameters between the water n your tank and the water you'd be adding?

In a 10 ltr bucket, I put in half a capful of dechlorinator and 8 ltrs of cold water, followed by 2 ltrs of boiling hot water water, followed by another half capful of dechloriator. This seems to get the temperature just ok. Not an exact match but seems to be fine. Does this seem ok?

You've obviously learnt not to put the filter media into your tank but still avoid that one, rinse it fortnightly in tank water by squeezing it out gently.

The problem is since I have a planted tank, a lot of the fern get stick in the filter. This makes it quite dirty and a single rinse doesn't seem to get it out. Is it ok if I enclose the entire filter in a stocking? That way the water should be able to pass through but all the small leaves etc should stay out. Would this be ok?

 

[Christine1014]

Hmm.. I think the stocking thing would work. I've heard people that cover the intank tube of an HOB with a stocking to prevent fry from being sucked up. Your filter and reasoning and is different, but I'd think the same principle applies.

Most people do seem to stick to smaller water changes. I'm not one of them. The ammount of water you took out shouldn't cause any cycling problems. You might have cleaned the filter media a little too well though; only time will tell. The good news is that you probably DID do the right thing. With as long as it took to clean the tank, it would have dried if you'd left it in the filter. At least in the tank, it had water & oxygen swishing around. (and as you get more practice with the gravel vac, you'll figure out the way that works best for you and it won't take so long!) As for why your nitrites hadn't dropped, that's by far the slowest part of the cycle. Just hang in there, and keep testing the water and doing changes when you detect ammonia or nitrite.

 

[fmervin]

Hmm.. I think the stocking thing would work. I've heard people that cover the intank tube of an HOB with a stocking to prevent fry from being sucked up. Your filter and reasoning and is different, but I'd think the same principle applies.

Thanks Christine Do you know of any aquarium safe stocking? Or will any one do? BTW, what is an HOB?

 

[Christine1014]

Oh, sorry - HOB = Hangs On Back. (well get a little acronym-crazy on here sometimes!)

I think any stocking should do. Maybe just rinse it once in really hot water (no soap) to make sure there there's no traces of detergent or fabric sprays or anything on it.