PLEASE HELP!!! question about cycling an aquarium?!?!?

Question

when i cycle the aquarium and clean do a FULL tank clean, i mean, clean all the gravel, tank itself, and change all the water, then do i have to do another cycle before i put the fish in? what am i supposed to do?
also is it true that some tanks do not need full tank cleaning?

Answer 1

Once a tank is cycled you should never do a full tank cleaning, ever. The cycle keeps the water safe for the fish when you clean it all out it kills all the beneficial bacteria that keeps it cycled. Most people use a gravel vac to clean the gravel and do a water change, it sucks all the crap out of the gravel and removes some while at the same time. You can scrub the sides down with your hand or use a magnetic scrapper. And you can either take out around 10% of the water once a week or do around 20-25 % every 2 weeks, I prefer to do it weekly.

Another thing, the filter companies always tell you to change the cartridges every month or so but don't, they tell you so they make more money but majority of the beneficial bacteria live on there so when you throw it out and get a new one you can lose your cycle and have to start over. Just rinse them off in the water you are removing from the tank, tap water or any water with chlorine will kill the BB.

Answer 2

if you clean all of the tank at once, you need to cycle it again yes.

Cleaning it with only 25% water changes at once is a much better idea. If your tank has cycled properly, and you don't have too many fish in the tank, or overfeed, then your tank should stay pretty clean. An occasional scrub of the sides, vaccum of the rocks, and 25% water change should be good enough.

Answer 3

Get yourself an Eclipse tank. They are incredible. They are quiet and have a great filtration system. I had a tank for several years. I went 2½ years without loosing a single fish....and NEVER did a full tank cleaning.

I added extra water when needed and probably did 3 partial cleaning in the whole time I had the tank.

Oh...and the answer to your question about if you do a full tank clean is YES. It's like starting from the beginning. :(

Answer 4

I do a full tank cleaning about 2 times a year.

I clean everything out, put water back in, and put the fish back in.

I do check the temp of the water to make sure it's the same temp as the water that I took out, and I add this stuff to the tank that removes the chlorine from the water and adds an enzyme that fish loose while getting stressed. I call it fishy valium. You can pick it up at your fish store. it's a while bottle with a yellow cap.

Other than the full cleanings, I only change the filters and add more water when needed. I don't usually siphon off water or anything. my tank is well established, and I havn't had any die in a very long time.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

Yes, if you completely break down the tank and clean the filter and gravel you will have to start your cycle process over again.

This is because the cleaning process has killed all of the good bacteria that break down the fish wastes into "non toxic" wastes.

Answer 6

When the gravel gets really full of waste its important to do a full water change on an aquarium. When you change all the water, besides a chemical to neutralize the chlorine, you want to use a product to "age" the water and put beneficial bacteria and nutrients in. Two products I have used: Stability and Cycle. They both work well and Stability is made by Seachem. I forget who makes Cycle. I hope this information helps you. Happy fish keeping!

Answer 7

I dont know much about fish/tanks... but my mom has 2 50gal tanks FULL of freshwater fish...

what she does is...

empties the water all the way until the fish can hardly swim lol sorry... then she fills it back up and pours the stuff in it and mixes it around and walla!!! she also takes the decor stuff out and scrubs it with an old toothbrush... and with the gravel/rocks she doesnt take it out and rinses it b/c thats why u have a filter. :)