Pristine Clean Tank a Myth

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N

nzafi

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
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How many folks on here feel like they have achieved the balance of maintenance level and cleanliness of their tank? I have been keeping fish for 18 years now, never really done anything complex, but feel like with my 180g tank I always struggle for a pristine tank. Couple things I did:

1) Went from canister to HOB - Way too much crap was building up in the canister for my comfort and frequent cleaning was not manageable.
2) Went from gravel to sand - Too much crap was getting stuck in the gravel so I did sand where it sits on top
3) Went from sand to bare bottom - I figured it would be a good idea seeing I can see where the waste is and do target syphoning. Bad idea. No matter how hard I try now there is always something on the bottom of the tank
4) Went from HOB to HMF - Just had this filter for a couple weeks so the verdict is not out yet. I will say HMF + bare bottom = bad idea. Without the high turnover for mechanical my bare bottom is worse than ever from a visibility of dirt.

With all of the steps above I have drastically cut on my tank maintenance. I do weekly 50% WC and keep my nitrates below 25ppm (understock tank though) relatively easily. Even though I probably have the "easiest to clean" tank I have ever managed it feels like the dirtiest (even though it is not) because it is not "aquascaped".

I guess my question is for those that background, gravel, sand, lots of rocks, driftwood, etc how do keep the balance of cleaninless but beauty too? At some stage I feel like I need to get back to a pretty looking tank and just accept the fact that no matter what you do, you cannot clean everything.

I will say that Albertan's tank inspires me and when I finally upgrade I guess I will have to do something like that if I truly want a nice looking tank that is maintenance free.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...ass-aquarium-1000-gallons-for-dummies.529038/
 
I tiled the bottom of my tank with a sand colored tile. Functions like a bare bottom, but also looks good. Plus, any decorations are easy to move around for cleaning.
 
Get your ocd under control and you'll no longer worry about some small speckle of turd lying on the substrate or that little bit of algae in the corner on the silicone :D
 
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Thanks for the example Beetlebug515 Beetlebug515 My I painted the back of my tank black and the bottom too. Unfortunately the black looks better than true bare bottom because the mirror effect is eliminated but the black is too dark and shows everything. I like what you did with the tile.

I am even thinking if I do upgrade to the large tank I keep talking about going with something like FRP or plywood can eliminate a lot extra work because there is only 1 glass pane to worry about :)
 
I use RID-X and 50-75% changes every week, my tanks have almost no build up.
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
I use RID-X and 50-75% changes every week, my tanks have almost no build up.
Click to expand...

I used to try rid-x and for watever reason it did not seem to work for me. Now that I have a HMF filter, not sure how helpful it really will be. I might end up with more issues. My guess is that whatever "particles" from the rid-x will just show up on the bottom of my tank to be an eye sore.
 
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