Tank cledaning

[Gabe]

Ok, I did a partial water change yesterday(I have one of those gravel cleaners) and it was still REALLY dirty. There was poop everywhere! Has anyone found a way that works good for them to get more poop out? Last time I took all the water out, took the gravel out and rinsed it under running water. Then I put my clean water in and then filled up the tank with the old water. This just seems to be a lot of work and was wondering if anyone has a different method I could try.

By the way I have a 5 gallon, if that makes a difference. Any ideas would be great.

Gabe

 

[semper fi]

you could try either one of those battery operated vacuum cleaners which filters out the poop and puts the water back into the tank or put a nylon over the end of a small peice of syphon hose and let the water go back into the tank.

suggestion, get a bigger tank larger tanks are more forgiving and easier to clean imo. if i do an eighteen percent water change on my 180 i am removing 18 gallons which leaves more than enough time to completely vacuum all of the gravel.

maggie

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

I wouldn't recommend cleaning the gravel under tap water as this will cause beneficial bacteria to die and thus cause the cycling to restart.

 

[Gabe]

I do plan on getting a bigger tank, I just need the funds to do so. Thanks for the nylon idea. The hubby and I thought about filtering the water but didn't know what to use. Thanks again

Gabe

 

[Fly258]

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/acatalog/...leaners_54.html


Try the gravel cleaner in the address above, I bought one and it is realy good. I can take as long as I like cleaning the gravel and I can do it at any time, not just when doing a water change.
Regards
Jim

 

[Gabe]

Fly, that looks like a pretty cool device. I will have to see what I can do, maybe find one locally if I can. Thanks alot.

Gabe

 

[silveradam]

I picked up a gravel cleaner at Pet Value that does a great job. Basically it's a tube with a plastic ball on top and a cotton bag. You squeeze the ball, water syphons up through the tube and out the bag. Crud stays in the bag, water goes back into the tank. About 10.00 CDN.

 

[Gabe]

Thanks for the tip Silver, I'll check this weekend at the Pet Value here. It sounds like a really good deal, I got a simple gravel cleaner for almost that much. Again, thanks alot.

Gabe

 

[mooga]

if your going to upgrade in size why don't you look into a"magnum canister filter" with the gravel cleaner attachment. with that you can clean and recirculate the water back to your tank. then eventually you can use this as your primary filter on your new tank with bio-wheel attachment of course.

 

[Gabe]

I checked at my lfs and didn't see any filter systems with the gravel cleaner attachment, but I'm going to look at Canadian sites to see if I can get on that way. Thanks so much for the idea suggestion though, and I'm for sure going to get the bio-wheel on my new filter system.