Ok, so now you have bought a fish tank, it is setup and running well, but you see that there is some buildup and algae in the tank and at the bottom. What to do? Well now comes the time you need to clean your tank.
Cleaning a fish tank can be an easy task, but is often a very stressful and time consuming process for many people. Why? you might ask. Well most people do not know the proper steps to take when cleaning a tank, and often end up spending hours figuring out what and where to clean. I am going to tell you a somewhat quick, but definitely easy way to go about this process. So sit back, grab a drink, and enjoy!!!!
THE CLEANING PROCESS:
1. When cleaning a fish tank the very first thing that I do is empty about 20-30% of the water.
2. Next if you want to pull out all the plants, rocks, and accessories (you can leave the fish in the tank if you have larger than a 30 gallon tank, any smaller than that and I would pull them out)
3. Now you want to use the suction filtration method and clean your gravel. I like to use my hand as well to help stir around the gravel to get any extra buildup that is deep under the gravel.
4. Once you have cleaned the gravel, then you can unplug your filter and begin to clean it (Now if you have a tank that has 2 filters on it, it is important that you only clean one at a time. You want to do this because the filters will contain some “good” bacteria colonies that your fishtank needs.) If you have only one filter for your tank then go ahead and just clean it.fish tank with filter
5. The filter can easily be taken apart and cleaned thoroughly. When you are taking the actual filter out unless it is extremely dirty, you can just rinse it and put it back. Make sure that you clean any gunk out of the filters pipe, and also down where the engine spins. That part needs to spin freely in order to have good suction for your filter.
6. After the filter is cleaned you can place them back where they were, Remember to fill it with water before you plug it back in.
7. Now what I like to do is to scrub my rocks and plants while I am filling my tank back up with water (obviously if you have live plants, then you cannot scrub them just trim any dead leaves). If your rocks are extremely dirty then you can soak them in a 10% bleach solution. I have done this many times and my fish are still kickin today. What I like to do is make a solution of 1 cup of bleach and 10 cups of water. I let the rocks soak for one hour in the bleach, then another hour in water. After that I am sure to rinse them thoroughly and let them completely air dry. This is the only way that you can use this bleaching method, any other method you read please disregard. I have used this method many times and been very successful.
8. After everything is cleaned and the tank is filled with water, go ahead and add your fish back to the tank (You want them to be out of the tank for only a short time – sometimes I add the bubbler to the little tank I have them in to keep the Oxygen levels up).
9. Now that all is clean and the fish and plants are back, make sure that you wait till your rocks are completely dry (if bleached) before adding them back to the tank. If you just scrubbed them with water and a sponge then you can put them back in right away.
10. The last thing I like to do is to scrub the sides of the tank with a scratchless sponge (I have an acrylic tank), or with a razor blade or something sharper (for my glass tanks). Once you have done this you are pretty much done cleaning your tank. Depending on the size and number of filters you have the tank will look completely clean anywhere from 2 hours to 10 hours after cleaning. But don’t worry the particles floating in the water will not harm your fish.
You can repeat this procedure again in about 6 months! Remember though, you do not want to over clean your aquarium. There are many types of bacteria colonies that your fish tank needs to be healthy, and when we clean the tanks we often kill a lot of these colonies.
I HOPE THIS HAS HELPED YOU ALONG YOUR WAY TO ESTABLISHING A WONDERFUL AQUARIUM IN YOUR HOME OR OFFICE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VISIT MY BLOG AND ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE. GOOD LUCK!!!!