what is the best way to clean a goldfish tank?

Answer 1

With weekly 20% water changes and gravel siphonings.

You never EVER want to do a thorough cleaning of your tank while you have fish living in it. By scrubbing down the sides with bleach or any other chemicals, you not only run the risk of harming your fish, you also clean away any good bacteria living on the sides. Same goes for taking the gravel out and cleaning it - just use a siphon to get the stuff out of between the rocks.

As for when you clean your filter, always use used tank water. Either take a toothbrush that you're never going to use and gently scrub it, or just dunk it in the water a couple of times until it appears clean. Do not replace your filters every month as suggested - the carbon is fairly useless unless you need to get rid of medications or your water smells anyway. You also have the good bacteria growing on there, too, so you don't want to wash/throw them away.

If you get algae, use an algae scrubber.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Okay, DON'T (and I can't stress this enough), don't use soap in your tank - you'll polute the water. And never 'change' more than half the water from your tank. Doing so may put undue stress on your fish, they'll go into shock and may die. Depending on how many fish you have, you're best to do a cleaning every 2-4 weeks. If you can keep up with it, a 25% water change is sufficient. And unless you like the taste of fish water, there are better ways to siphon the water with a gravel cleaner other than sucking on an end. I put the whole "vacuum" into the tank to fill the hose with water. Then cover the end of the hose with my thumb and swiftly remove the 'stopped' end from the tank making sure the bigger opening doesn't come out of the water. The force created should be enough to get a good flow started. It may take a few tries at first to get the technique down, but it beats the heck out of accidentally swallowing a mouthful of fish poop! If your goldfish are in a small bowl however, it would be easier to pour the water through a filter - a coffee filter will do. First, transfer your fish and roughly half the water into another container (this water will eventually be discarded). Pour the remaining water through a coffee filter to get rid of any particles that may be floating. Rinse out the gravel and wash the bowl and ornaments using a scrubby and fresh, clean water - no soap! Pour the 'filtered' water back into the bowl, add the rinsed gravel and scrubbed ornaments, reintroduce your fish to their cleaned home and slowly fill the bowl with fresh water treated with "Aqua Plus" or a water conditioner made specifically for your scaly friend (this new water is ideally prepared the day before). Good luck & Happy Fish Keeping!

Answer 3

Get an algae scraper or algae sponge of some form for the sides. Use a gravel vaccum for the bottom. Start the vaccuum by sucking on the skinny end and placing it in a a bucket. It'll siphon water out of your tank, and the sucking action allows you to pull out fish waste and excess food from your gravel.

Answer 4

The same way you should clean every other tank. Do water changes with a gravel vac, don't take out more then 50% of the water at a time though.

Answer 5

I suggest cleaning your aquarium in the following order:

Inside glass

Decorations (rocks, plants, etc)

Gravel

Outside glass and fixtures

Filter

Why clean the tank in that order? Cleaning the glass will cause particles of debris to fall on the plants, decorations, and gravel, so it's best to clean them after the glass has been cleaned. Removing the plants and decorations will cause debris to fall to the bottom, so you might as well hold off cleaning the gravel until the plants and decorations have been taken out. Also, the gravel is much easier to clean once the plants and rocks have been removed. Needless to say, cleaning anything inside the tank will cause the outside of the tank to get dirty, so the outside should be cleaned after the inside. As for the filter, read on to see why that is the last item I recommend cleaning.

Algae Pads/Scrapers
Start your cleaning project by giving the glass a good cleaning on the inside. All you need for that is an algae scraper or pad. There are a wide variety of algae scrapers on the market, from long handled scrubbers to magnetic scrubbers. I personally like the small magnetic scrubbers, however virtually any algae pad will do. People often ask me if it's necessary to purchase algae scrubbing pads at a pet shop instead of the house wares department of a regular store. Although the pads may look the same, they may have a soap or chemical residue in them from the manufacturing process. A reside doesn't matter if you are cleaning your kitchen sink, but it can leave a lethal film in your aquarium. For that reason, I advise spending a few extra pennies to get the algae pads labeled for aquarium use.

For particularly stubborn residue on the glass, use a razor blade to scrape it off. Take care not to cut yourself, or scratch the glass. If your aquarium is acrylic, use a special plastic razor blade, as standard razors will scratch acrylic.

Bleach
Once the inside glass is clean, remove any rocks, artificial plants, or decorations that have significant algae growth, or are noticeably dirty. Do not clean them with soap or detergents! It is very difficult to completely remove soap, and even the smallest trace can be lethal to fish. Usually a good scrub with an algae scraper will remove the algae and dirt from rocks and plants. For particularly stubborn cleaning problems, prepare a 10% bleach solution (1 part household bleach to 9 parts water) and soak the items for 15 minutes. Scrub any remaining residue off, rinse well in running water, and let air dry to eliminate any residual bleach.

Live plants can bleached, however stem plants do not tolerate bleaching well. To bleach live plants prepare a 5% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 19 parts water), soak the plants for two to three minutes (no longer), then rinse well. Leave the rocks, decorations and plants out of the tank while you vacuum the gravel. That way none of the debris stirred up from the gravel will settle on them.

A word of caution - get a new bucket and designate it for aquarium use only. If you use a bucket that has had soap or detergent in it, you risk introducing chemicals to the tank, which could result in the loss of your fish.

Siphon
Clean the gravel next, by using a water siphon to vacuum away the debris. There are several types of siphons available, all of which work essentially the same. My preference is for the Python, because it draws the dirty water directly into your sink, thus eliminating the need to use buckets (which can easily be tipped over). Magnum makes an adapter for the Hot Pro unit that allows you to siphon water through the filter and return it right back to the tank. Although this works well for removing larger debris particles, smaller particles will pass through the filter and are returned to the tank. Be sure to vacuum the entire surface of the gravel thoroughly so that all debris is removed.

Glass and Lime Cleaners
Once the inside of the aquarium is cleaned, the hood, light, tank top, and outside glass can be cleaned. I strongly urge using cleaners designated as aquarium safe. Regular glass cleaners contain ammonia, which is toxic to fish. Standard lime cleaners are even more toxic. Use aquarium safe cleansers, and rinse rinse rinse!

Filter Cleaning
Once everything is clean on the inside, the rocks, plants, and other decorations may be returned to the tank. At this point I'd wait a couple of weeks before cleaning the filter. Why wait? The reason is not visible to the naked eye. The major cleaning you just performed has disturbed the bacterial colonies on the plants, rocks, and in the gravel. Fortunately a significant number of the beneficial bacteria reside within the filter media, so you haven't completely upset the eco-system. However if you changed the filter at the same time, you might end up with a significant ammonia spike because there aren't enough beneficial bacteria left to eliminate the toxins. For that reason, it's wise to give the tank a rest before removing the filter and cleaning it.

When you are ready to clean the filter, should you clean or simply replace the filter media entirely? Some experts caution that replacing the filter media removes too many of the beneficial bacteria, and can essentially throw the aquarium into a new tank break-in cycle. Other experts argue that there are sufficient bacteria on the rocks and plants, and in the gravel to prevent the tank from having to go through a break-in cycle when the filter is replaced. My viewpoint is that what you should do depends on the type of filter media you are using.

If you have filter media containing carbon, ammonia absorbers, or ion-exchange resins, it should be replaced if it's more than three weeks old. After a couple of weeks the absorbing qualities in the media have been exhausted, and there are enough bacterial colonies elsewhere to offset its removal. Media that acts as a mechanical filter instead of absorbing toxins (i.e.: ceramic rings, filter fiber, or sponges) should be gently rinsed to remove debris and returned to the filter. If care is taken to use water that is the same temperature as the aquarium water, and the media is quickly returned to the filter, the bacterial colonies growing on them will not be lost entirely.

Don't forget to clean the filter tubing and other parts of the filter assembly. A filter brush will help clear out the sludge that invariably builds up in all the small crevices.

Ongoing Maintenance
Once you've gotten your tank in shape, make sure you clean it on an ongoing basis so it never needs a major spring-cleaning again. Scrape the glass weekly, vacuum the gravel every time you perform a water change, and clean any rocks or plants as soon as you see debris or algae on them. Clean the filter monthly, either by replacing the media, or rinsing it. While you are at it, soak your fish nets in a disinfectant solution to keep them clean and soft. With regular care, your aquarium will look beautiful all the time.

Answer 6

Put your fish in a little cup and pour the water out of its tank and then scrub the tank with soap and water then fill it back up again and put your fishy back.

Answer 7

Soap and water

Answer 8

with your hands

Answer 9

listen to a13, he is correct.