How do I clean my rocks in my aquarium? and how often do i change them?

Question

Well today i really learned that goldfish really are the dirtyest fish.
I have had my Goldfish for 3 weeks now. I have changed 30% of the water everyweek and added all the differnet chemicals. All the poo is still on the bottom of the tank and im wondering how everyone else is cleaning this?
Also how often should i get new rocks for my tank?

Answer 1

get a gravel vacuum -- its a little simple device that costs about 5 dollars and you use it to get waste out of your gravel. it pulls water out with the waste so you change water at the same time. i do 1/3 to 1/2 every week in my goldfish depending on how dirty the stuff is.

i add the following chemicals -- stress coat, stress zyme, and melafix. stress coat dechlorinates and does the slime coat thing, stress zyme adds helpful bacteria, melafix is an anti-bacteria tonic that is good for fish.

you can also combat goldfish waste by changing their diet. flake food is really messy. go with pellets. i use hikari pellets and feed them just enough they can eat in a couple minutes and you can tell nothing is dropping to the bottom and adding to the waste like flakes do.

your filtration system should be reallly good. i recommend filters with biowheels. undergravel are worthless with goldfish.

the last way to combat goldfish waste is with plants. i use java fern and anubias. they are easy to keep. you just tie them to rocks and drop them in. you want to make sure they don't grow algae on their leaves. i wash them off and all my decorations off when i change the water. i also wipe down the sides of the tank at this time too. the whole process takes maybe 15 minutes. 15 minutes every 5-7 days is pretty good insurance that your tank is clean.

Answer 2

Keeping an aquarium clean is honestly not difficult and requires virtually no maintenance IF you follow the rules of "mother nature". First of all, add plants to your water. They act as a natural filter, taking in the carbondioxide, that fish exhale, and then producing the oxygen fish need. Secondly, get some fish that scavange ( ie. feed ) on waste. Algea eaters, plecostomouses, and coolie loaches can all be found at aquarium stores. They act like vacuum cleaners and they never stop working for you, even though you don't pay them. Thirdly, make sure that your water is airated with a bubbler so that the water continually is active and circulating. The waste products that your goldfish produce becomes the food for plants. If you have hanging Ivy plants around the house, just cut them anywhere and throw them into your water. Before long they will begin developing roots and continuing to grow. Eventually you may choose not to have goldfish ( which actually grow into carp if placed into a lake) and replace them with smaller fish that live well within their environment. Don't give up. Aquariums also are a wonderful source of humidifying the air and keeping the humidity level constant throughout the year.

Answer 3

When doing a weekly water change, use a syphon or gravel vaccum, they are pretty cheap
(less than 5 bucks) and available in petstores or pet sections of big block stores. It looks like a piece of tubing with a larger piece of plastic at one end, or just ask at the pet store...

Never change the gravel or substrate(rocks as you call them) that is where your benificial bacteria live, (your biological filter)

Adding a pleco or other "algea eater" is NOT going to help, they do not eat poo, and they are going to produce waste too. so they will only increase the problem

Good luck adding live plants with goldfish, they tear them up, I offer a foxtail plant once a month to be destroyed by my goldfish, but it is an exercise in futility to think that you can have live plants thrive in a goldfish tank. Also you would have to make sure that your hood had a full spectrum lamp, because aquatic plants will only rot & decay under typical flourescent lighting, only furthering your water quality problems.

Answer 4

When you change the water mix up the gravel so the poop floats up so you can scoop it out. Clean about 30% every 2 dayus for a week to get the poop undercontrol. Also, instead of chemicals, buy a water filter. It will NOT get all the poop, but it will help. You don't need to buy new rocks. If you want, you can take them out and scrub them, though. Also, how big is your tank? Why do you feel that the should be absolutely no poop in the tank? Rather, look and how clear the water is all over the tank. If the water is clear and the tank walls aren't slimy, you do'nt have to be frantic about keeping it any cleaner. Also make sure you aerate the water.

Answer 5

I would say that goldfish are pretty hardy animals. You don't need to do much. But to change the poo you need to put the goldfish in another container like a large bowl or cup and dump out the water from the tank. Run some water through the rocks while they are in the tank if you can to rinse em out.

Answer 6

You don't really want to clean the rocks too much as that is where most of your helpful bacteria live. If you have a good filter with a biological element, then you can clean the gravel quite a bit and not destroy your establish bacterial bed.

The main question is why you want to clean it? Is it algae or fish and food waste constituting the dirt. If it is waste, go with the gravel vacuum, but if it is algae, use a liquid algae destroyer or better a plecostomus or other algae eater like a snail.

Answer 7

If you got a bigger tank the goldfish would be happier and it wouldn't get so dirty as quickly.

Answer 8

get a gravel vaccum

even though its a pain in the @ss it really helps