How often to clean a 5 gal tank with 3 guppies 1 pleco 1 red claw crab & 1 cory?

Answer 1

Once the tank is cycled, like I told you in the other answer, all you need to do is your weekly partial water changes and stir the gravel once a month.

Stirring the gravel gets the debris (uneaten food and fish poop) up in the water column so the filter can remove it. Then you just change out the filter floss or rinse the cartridge and replace it, whichever you have.

I have tanks that have been set up almost 5 years without tearing them down. Almost all of them have been up and running at least two years.

My isolation tank for new fish is the only one that gets torn down at all and then only if the new fish are sick when they are brought home. That rarely happens because I buy most of my fish at local fish club fish auctions and the hobbyists that sell fish typically take very good care of them.

The only reason to tear down a tank is if it becomes infected with some virulent disease and you lose all the fish, then you need to bleach it to make sure no disease organisms are still in the tank when you restock it.

Answer 2

You should be doing a partial (10-20%) water change every week. Your filter, depending on the type should be checked weekly and cleaned when the filter material is really mucky. Other than that you get a gravel vacuum or gravel cleaner and use that just before you add the replacement water with every water change. It removes any uneaten food as well as fish poop and dead plant particles if you have live plants in the tank.

I agree with 8 in the corner.

Answer 3

Test your water. If the nitrates are too high then you need to do a water change. I can't tell you how often that will be and unless the people here have tested your water then they are just taking a guess.

A weekly water change of about 10% may be OK or you may need to take out more or do it more often depending on how high your nitrates are. If your nitrates are 50 and you only take out 10% then they are still too high so you would have to take out more until they are between 10 and 20.

Answer 4

i'd get a 10 - 30 gallon tank... the bigger the better for the heath of your fish and you'd need to lean less often..

right now you'd have to do 50% water changes every week.

Answer 5

If you have a good filtration system and lots of live plants, you should never need to change all of the water, changing 1/3 about once a month using water that had "stood" overnight. be sure not to overfeed your fish, give only enough for them to clear within a few mins.a complete water change encourages disease in your fish. this should only ever be done in an emergency.

fish breeder of 30 years

Answer 6

so long as you are not over feeding, and I mean less than a pinch of food every day (tiny bit for that amount of fish)
and your filter is pumping properly - you should not have to clean it more than once every 2 - 3 months or so. Simply top it with filtered treated water when it's low and keep the temperature consistant. Watch the filter- if it's looking grungy, clean it and cut back on the food you are giving them.

Answer 7

I second 8 in the Corner.

When are you going to get that bigger tank for them, anyway? And try to do a fishless cycle on it so you don't cause permanent damage to the fish. Please?

Answer 8

to tell the truth when I was little I think we only cleaned the tank once a month but we had tiny fish and it seemed to be fine but you are really supposed to do it once a week

Answer 9

if you have a filter maybe about once a month at the most.