How do you clean your Mbuna cichlid tanks?

[m1ste2tea]

I have had my overstocked mbuna 55gal tank now for about a year and the fry are all about 2-4" long so the battle with the poop is a pain. The 55 has a sand substrate and approx half of it is planted. I have lots of caves made of slate rock up against the back and it is behind those rocks that most poop collects.

here is my cleaning process:

step 1) scrape the front and sides of the tank to let the algae float in the water

step 2) move the rock caves(all one piece) in order to allow the siphon to get behind it.

step 3) use my hand to swirl the water around, get the poop floating

step 4) siphon out approx 10 gallons with the gravel vac, getting the areas behind the rocks and between the plants

step 5) return the rocks to their original position and start filling up the water w/salt and stresscoat.

step 6) once that is finished, I let the filters do some work on any leftover floating debris and clean the filters lightly.

I usually do steps 1-5 every week, with step 6 bi-weekly.

I ordered two 24" flexible air stone wands and a more powerful air pump, I will wind the air stone wands around the back of the rock cave fixtures so that it wont let the debris settle there. Shipment should arrive on monday, I post the results shortly after.

 

[EastBay]

Personally, I don't even worry about it. I vacuum up what I can.

I do have space all around the rockwork, so maybe the detrius eventually makes its way out of the rockwork and into the open space where I can get to it. But I don't really know.

As far as I can tell, all my fish are healthy and happy -- and breeding, which was kind of cool at first, but now it's starting to be a pita.

 

[roombo]

I do 25 to 30 on my 90 every week to every other week and clean my filters every 3 months. My fish are healthy and happy, they are hearty fish.