Tank Maintenance Schedule

[CyprusSteve]

The time has now come for me to start planning my maintenance schedule.
I am intending to do a minimum weekly water change of 20%.
I am broadly aware of the other main tasks which need to be undertaken – cleaning filters, cleaning gravel, and cleaning algae .
What I want to avoid is destroying my existing bacteria, so that I do not get into a Nitrogen Cycle again, so, I am guessing that the cleaning regime should not be TOO thorough.
I would welcome advice as to the regularity and method of the cleaning regime so as to keep both the tank clean, the bacteria alive, and, the fish healthy
Thanks,
Steve

 

[Tolak]

With a newly cycled tank you want to avoid cleaning all your gravel at once, or cleaning the filter media & gravel at the same time. Being newly cycled it's probably not stocked too heavily, so you won't need to clean everything at once.

I would vac half the gravel one week, half the next, rinse the filter media gently in tank water the third week. After a couple of months of doing this you could alternate vaccing the gravel & cleaning filter media every other week. When the case & tubing of the filter get dirty, you can rinse them when you rinse the media. You can do this when you do your weekly water changes.

Algae you can scrape off anytime it gets annoying. Nearly all of my tanks have some sort of plec, mostly bristlenoses. The only places that have algae is where they can't reach, usually behind the filter intakes or heaters.

If you have any large rocks or other ornaments you will want to move them & vac under them once a month. This will help prevent anaerobic bacteria from growing, which can give off sulphur I believe, which is toxic.

Tolak