How would you clean a small 2 gallon fish tank?

Answer 1

Well, you shouldn't need to replace ALL the water or remove the fish.
Do you have a filter? If so, get a gravel vacuum or a turkey baster and replace 30% of the water every week.
If you don't have a filter, you'll need to replace 50% of the water, every othery. In a tank tank that small, I would just use a clean turkey baster. Just suck up half the water as well as uneaten food and poop, and replace it.

You should not have to remove ALL the water, and never use cleaning products.

Answer 2

Like everyone else has said, that is way too small a tank for a goldfish. The typical rule of thumb is for every inch of fish, you should have three gallons, and that's counting the adult size of your fish. When you added the new water, did you put dechlorinator or water conditioner in it. Chlorine is very toxic to fish and will kill them very quickly. Do you have a filter on your tank. Goldfish are notoriously dirty fish and having a filter will help keep your water cleaner and prevent ammonia build up. You should have a gravel vacuum for cleaning to gravel and performing partial water changes, at least weekly if you are going to have such a small tank. For more information, just search the internet, there are a lot of helpful sites out there. Hope your fish makes it.

Answer 3

Absolutely never take the fish out of a tank to clean it!

To clean a tank you use an algae scrubber or your hand to wipe down the interior glass. Make sure you have rinsed your hands thoroughly before putting them in the tank.

Now you use a gravel vacuum to suck out the gunk on the gravel and to suck out 25-30% of the water.

Now add your dechlor product to the tank and simply replace the water with tap water of the same temperature.

Answer 4

Clean it because its going to be empty after? Or clean it because fish live in it and it just needs to be cleaned?

If you are emptying it and not going to have fish back in it, fill it with hot water and bleach, let it soak for a few hours until the water is room temperature, dump the water and wipe away anything left on the inside.

If it is a little fishy home, do not tank the fish out, do not EVER EVERY EVER use soap. Scrub it with an algae scrubber, and "vacumn" the gravel with a siphon, take out 25% of the water and then, refill it. Be sure to use a water conditioner or aged water.

If you have fake plants you can take them out an scrub them, soak them in bleach if you like, just rinse them after with water conditioner treated water. If you any other type of ornament, throw it in the garbage, it will eventually poison your fish.

If you don't have an algae scrubber, use a clean (never used) kitchen sponge with no cleaners in it. If you don't have a siphon, agitate the gravel with your net, stir-up the water a little and do a 15% water change.

Only ever take out more then 25% water for DRASTIC measures, like a nitrate spike or after medication. Never empty all the water at once.

If you have REALLY bad stuck on algae, like is only going to come off with a jack hammer, use either a razer blade (you can buy them for aquariums). OR you can use plain old steel wool, NOT an SOS pad, JUST the steel wool. Your water conditioner will degrade it so don't take your time. I like Bulldog steel wool myself, it seems to be the favourite for the Montreal Aquarium Society.

Answer 5

Never remove all of the water, this is stressful to the fish. Instead, use airline tubing to syphon out 50% of the water and to suck the poo off the bottom. Use a paper towel to clean off any algae.

Answer 6

DO NOT USE SOAP OR DETERGENTS!! You don't need to empty out the sand or gravel. Use a gravel vac to suck up the leftover food and poop. And then take out 25-50% of the water. When you replace the water, make sure you dechlorinate it and make sure the water is the same temperature as the old tank water to avoid too much temperature shock for your fish.

Answer 7

That is small. What do you have in it?

I usually clean my tank using a gravel suction pump (found at pet stores for abouyt $10). That usually drains about 25% of my water, then i top it up.

Just be careful you don't drain it too much.

Answer 8

Here is what i do. Take the fish out and put them in a different container. Then pour out the water. Grab a plain paper towel and wipe the tank to get algea off of it. Then put just a little bit of water in, swirl the rocks in it, and then pour the water back out. Keep swirling the rocks like that until the water comes out clear. Then fill the tank back up with filtered water, make sure it's close to room temp as possible. Then put the fishys back. Remember: DO NOT USE SOAP OR ANY OTHER CHEMICAL. JUST USE PAPER TOWEL AND CLEAN WATER TO CLEAN IT. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU RINSE IT. THE SMELL, AND EVEN THE TINIEST AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL RESIDUE WILL KILL THE FISHY'S!

Answer 9

take the fish out, (retaining about 1/2 gallon) scrub the tank down.

dump the water in the tank, refill minus a half gallon, then the fish and retained water go back in.

if its a saltwater aquarium, mix the water a day ahead of time.

Answer 10

scrub the sides with a spong.