I just did a big water change (probably around 40%) in an attempt to clarify my water. My tank is overstocked and I do feed pretty often, because I want my smallest fish to grow quickly to catch up with the rest of my fish. However I struggled with lots of tiny particles floating around the tank making it somewhat cloudy proir to getting the small fish, meaning I didn't start feeding a lot until recently. I have some flat sandstone rocks in the tank as decorations, could they be disintegrating thus causing the cloudy tank? Is there a water clarifying chemical that may work? Also, how do you guys clean the walls of the tank? i have been just using a clean wash cloth that I rinse thoroughly before using in the tank to make sure there is no residual detergent or anything. Would a small handheld squeegee work? If you don't mind would you post a step by step list of how you do your routine water changes/tank cleaning? thanks!
Tank Cleaning Tips!
- Thread starter Wesley M
- Start date
Cut your feeding regiment in half. Fish can get on surprisingly well on very little. That should take care of the excess food particles in the water column. Espicially with a good feed such as NLS which is highly concentrated. A little goes a long way. I siphon half of water out once a week and do a light vacum of the gravel. I use a razor blade and scrape the front and sides of the glass. The back I leave alone as my plecos feed on that glass. Then I add a capful of prime fill up tank rinse off glass tops with hot water and a wash cloth, and good to go.
For cleaning tank walls, get a magnetic algae scraper or something similar, will help you a lot more than a wash cloth will...
As for cleaning; i'm sure every one has their own "steps" but for me, this is a basic run down when i'm dealing with my 200G tank
1) Scrape algae off walls in tank
2) Hook up hose to drain pipe and start emptying tank
3) While tank is being emptied, siphon out all the poop and any nasty stuff in the tank (making sure to reach under deco as well)...
4) Rinse and clean any substrate i may have siphoned out and put it back in the tank (i use sand in my tank so its very easy to get quite a bit siphoned out)
5) once at least 50% water has been taken out, refill the tank and it'll be set for another week, or until i have to clean my canisters..
As for cleaning; i'm sure every one has their own "steps" but for me, this is a basic run down when i'm dealing with my 200G tank
1) Scrape algae off walls in tank
2) Hook up hose to drain pipe and start emptying tank
3) While tank is being emptied, siphon out all the poop and any nasty stuff in the tank (making sure to reach under deco as well)...
4) Rinse and clean any substrate i may have siphoned out and put it back in the tank (i use sand in my tank so its very easy to get quite a bit siphoned out)
5) once at least 50% water has been taken out, refill the tank and it'll be set for another week, or until i have to clean my canisters..
What are you running filtration wise? particles in the water ime/imo are usually because of lack of mechanical filtration or inadequete filtration. even if you over feed your filters should pull out any particles left behind.
as for cleaning the tank sides.. x2 on a magnetic scraper.. a good one will cost about 20$ and they will last years. I just clean my fronts to see inot the tank and let the sides and back alone. a "clean" tank ime is not a healthy tank. algae and bacteria grow all over and most my filters are cleaned every 4-6 monthes. But my water quality is spot on.
I also do 50% weekly water changes minimum on all my tanks. more on the tanks with young/growing fish. ime a good diet along with frequent large water changes = healthy growth.
as for cleaning the tank sides.. x2 on a magnetic scraper.. a good one will cost about 20$ and they will last years. I just clean my fronts to see inot the tank and let the sides and back alone. a "clean" tank ime is not a healthy tank. algae and bacteria grow all over and most my filters are cleaned every 4-6 monthes. But my water quality is spot on.
I also do 50% weekly water changes minimum on all my tanks. more on the tanks with young/growing fish. ime a good diet along with frequent large water changes = healthy growth.
Thanks for all the tips! I have a six foot long tank and I feel a razor blade would take absolutely forever, however I think ill get one of the magentic scrapers. What is a good brand for those?
I bought this http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-maintenance/jw-aquarium-scraper-22.html for cleaning my glass. It takes me about 5 minutes tops with a 6 foot tank.
Just a warning about the magnetic scrapers. Some supstrate may have some bits that are magnetic and if the magnet picks it up your likely to scratch your glass up if your tank is glass. I have a magnetic scraper that I can only use on 3 of my 6 tanks. The other 3 tanks have particles in the substrate that are magnetic. So just be wary of that, otherwise I would agree, the mag scrapers are good, don't have to get wet to clean your tank.
Get the small fish out of the tank and place them in a grow out if at all possible...They will grow faster and less food will be wasted.I don't mind using a rag or some kind of cloth for wiping the tanks inner walls...I actually have a few rags for that purpose.
Magnetic scrappers are great if you have algae issues or get attacked by your fish. 4 of my 5 tanks only need the glass to be cleaned monthly so I prefer the $2 pad, most off my scratches have come from going after algae to close to the substrate. Try polyfill to polish your water.
What size would be a good grow out? my 3 baby jags are down to 2 unfortunately. I am working on disassembling 2 of my 10 gallon tanks to make a more square shaped 20 gallon. Would it work?