As everyone here knows, having a large and/or tall tank presents some challenges with maintenance even if you're tall. I'm always searching for more efficient ways to get the job done with reaching tools and the like. So here are some tips.
Use a cheap sponge mop (the kind with the plastic handle) that you can get from the dollar store. Use that to clean the sides of a big tank quickly. Super long reach, minimal strain. If you do bare bottom it whisks away algae in large areas at once.
Cut a piece of PVC pipe around 36". I have a 1 1/2 gray pvc pipe I use to stir the sand and move rocks. Hands stay dry. The less you have to put your body parts in the water, the better.
I have a situation now where I have to feed Boss and Brick on their sides of the tank. So I would end up overfeeding which gives the usual problems of particles that vaccuming the substrate doesn't solve...it gets in the water column for an hour or two. So I had an idea. I use the pipe as a 'feeder'. Just push the bottom end against the substrate and dump the food in. A gentle shake and the food drops out. It settles to the bottom in a neat pile and you can get the excess easier without having to go all over the map. And my powerheads can't shoot the food all over the plants and deco which was becoming a real nuisance.
My fish are too damn smart for their own good. It took them less than a minute to figure out this new feeding program...Brick as usual was being curious about the new food toy and 'tapped' it to get more pellets. When I put the pipe on Boss' side he chased Brick away then waited by the pipe for his food. This method really works for small or tiny sized pellets. I fed them the bug bites this way and they gulped them like a bowl of cereal. Normally they would have to 'pick' along the sand to grab them. It also slows up the scuffling...they fight over the bug bites anyway but this tactic minimizes that.
Use a cheap sponge mop (the kind with the plastic handle) that you can get from the dollar store. Use that to clean the sides of a big tank quickly. Super long reach, minimal strain. If you do bare bottom it whisks away algae in large areas at once.
Cut a piece of PVC pipe around 36". I have a 1 1/2 gray pvc pipe I use to stir the sand and move rocks. Hands stay dry. The less you have to put your body parts in the water, the better.
I have a situation now where I have to feed Boss and Brick on their sides of the tank. So I would end up overfeeding which gives the usual problems of particles that vaccuming the substrate doesn't solve...it gets in the water column for an hour or two. So I had an idea. I use the pipe as a 'feeder'. Just push the bottom end against the substrate and dump the food in. A gentle shake and the food drops out. It settles to the bottom in a neat pile and you can get the excess easier without having to go all over the map. And my powerheads can't shoot the food all over the plants and deco which was becoming a real nuisance.
My fish are too damn smart for their own good. It took them less than a minute to figure out this new feeding program...Brick as usual was being curious about the new food toy and 'tapped' it to get more pellets. When I put the pipe on Boss' side he chased Brick away then waited by the pipe for his food. This method really works for small or tiny sized pellets. I fed them the bug bites this way and they gulped them like a bowl of cereal. Normally they would have to 'pick' along the sand to grab them. It also slows up the scuffling...they fight over the bug bites anyway but this tactic minimizes that.
