Proper Cleaning of a Fish Tank?

Question

I have been cleaning my tank about every 2 or 3 weeks because it starts to turn green within a few days. I take the water out. I wipe down the glass and rinse off the objects and gravel with warm water. I wipe out the filter and put new ones in. I make sure everything is wiped down. I put tablets in the water to get rid of the chemicals that might be in tap. I don't pour the fish back in with the old water I use my net to put them back in. Why does it keep turning green so quickly and is there any specific way to clean a fish tank so that it stays clean longer?

Answer 1

Algae will grow on fish tanks, there is no avoiding it. You can do certain things to minimize it, like reducing light sources, reducing the nutrient sources, getting an algae eater, etc., but there is nothing that will stop all of the algae from growing. There is no cure for algae except elbow grease and diligence. That said, be aware that, although it isn't pretty to look at, algae is good for aquariums and we should have a little of it in there. We should never clean an aquarium squeeky clean. Filters should be rinsed in the old water you took out of the tank. The gunk in the gravel should be siphoned out because beneficial bacteria live in there and a good scrubbing kills all of that. You can minimize the rate at which this stuff grows on your glass by removing 20% of the water from your aquarium and replacing it with fresh water at least twice a week, but some of the old water should always be allowed to remain in the tank. Tanks need to be cleaned at least every week, not every 2 or 3 weeks also. I'm glad that you're adding the proper products to maintain water quality.

Answer 2

DO NOT take all the water out of your tank. You should NEVER remove more than 25% of the water from your tank at any one time.
To address the main problem your algae. Algae grows for 3 basic principals, heat, light and food. Your tank could be too close to a heat source, i.e. a heat register etc. It could get ambient light from a window (which is enough to make algae grow.) or the light is being left on too long or your phosporous levels are out of wack.

However you cannot rule out the reason for algae is introduction of contaminated plants or a bag of fish from a store tank with algae. This can come in as some small filaments floating in the water, as water born spores or perhaps in the digestive tract of fishes. Once deposited into a suitable aquarium environment, they may become established

First off Quit draining the tank. 25% of the water only.

When you clean your tank, they have these neat little things called razor cleaners. Scrape the sides of your glass tank. Remove and clean any decorations. Once the debris settled, use your aquarium syphon and clean the bottom of the tank. Your 25% water will come out of what you suck out of the tank to clean it. This aquarium syphon sucks up debris and gravel, but since the gravel is heavier than the debris, it is deposited back on the floor of the aquarium.

Get rid of the tablets. Change to Novaqua Plus to decloranate your tank. Tablets don't always dissolve. If you are sure you are not leaving your light on too long, no more than 11 hours per day give or take, Get yourself these neat little filter pads (cut to size and added to your tanks filter) called phosphorus pads. Add these to your filter. With the pads alone you will see a major improvement with a week.

HOWEVER, for right now, you will need to do a 10% water change once a week for atleast 4-6 weeks.

Phosphorus and nitrates are naturally in our water, unless it is filtered. Using Novaqua + also helps rid tap water of a lot more than chlorine. Maintain your tank more and the algae will be under control in no time.

Answer 3

Actually, what would be easier and better for the fish is just doing water changes weekly instead. All you need to do is get some tubing and you can siphon the water into a bucket or other container. This is a lot less effort, and you don't have to worry about killing any of the bacteria that are necessary to the nitrogen cycle. Also, it's less stressful to your fish. You should ALWAYS acclimate your fish after they've been taken out of the tank (you may already do this and just didn't mention it).

To get rid of the algae on the side of the tank, you can get a tank scrubber magnet thing at any petstore to scrape it off. If it's stuck in plants, you can use a CLEAN toothbrush (it can be used but just make sure you get any toothpaste residue off of it) to pull out the algae. Also, depending on your tank, you can get shrimp (such as Amano or Red Cherry) or a small school of otos to help assist with the algae. Which type you get depends on the type of algae you have. If you have stringy algae mostly, then the otos won't eat that, but the shrimp will. Likewise, the shrimp aren't very good at getting algae off the glass like the otos are.

Another thing you can do to decrease the algae is decrease the amount of light the tank receives or plant some live plants, which will compete with the algae for the nutrients in the tank. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

First point is about the filter:
I'm assuming you have an internal filter. I use this one:
http://www.aquaticbiotope.co.uk/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=1130
inside are 2 foam pads called the filter media DO NOT CHANGE THESE EVERY WEEK. bacteria essential to removing ammonia resides on these pads and takes weeks to grow so, the filter media should be replaced at a minimum of every six months. If you find the water flowing through your filter too slowly, you can take the pads out and gently squeeze them over a sink and put them back but they should never come into contact with tap water.
Onto algae:
If your tank has real plants they require about 6 - 8hrs of light.
I run my aquarium lamp on a timer so it comes on in the afternoon for 6 hrs. If you give the tank too much light you get green algae but if you don't give enough light brown algae can grow so you can probably see that algae is always going to be present. It is also recommended that you leave algae on the back face of the tank (the side you don't see) to grow because it can be beneficial to the fish.
You can buy sachets to put into the aquarium to keep algae growth down (they look like tea bags) and I have found them to be quite effective.

Answer 5

The water is turning green because each time you replace all the water, it upsets the biological balance in your tank, causing excess nutrients and fish poop in the water to feed algae instead of beneficial bacteria who would convert the excess nutrients into harmless-nitrates.
I suggest that you get a clean turkey baster. And, every say, remove 50% of the water, along with uneaten food and poop, and replace with fresh dechlorinated water. It will take you all of 4 minutes, and your tank will always be crystal clear (healthier fish - also less stress because you can just leave it in the tank) and you will never have to remove everything. Also instead of using those tablets, get some liquid water conditioner, instead. It'll save you money.

So, no, there's nothing you can do to keep the water cleaner for longer. 2-3 weeks between cleaning is a long time; I clean all my tanks every week (well, I replace about 30% of the water every week) and I have very powerful filters.

Answer 6

reduce your lighting and dont over feed the fish. never put a tank in direct sunlight or algea will grow real fast. dont rinse everythimng in ur tank or else u will kill the helpful bacteria and that can lead to ammonis poisoning in fish. what fish do u keep? goldfish are dirtiest that can be a factor too. how large ur tank is, is also is a big factor. just clean it often with a grval vacuum and special sponge from a petstore.

Answer 7

Here's a website with all the info you need for tank cleaning (and lots of other info related to fishkeeping): http://www.fishlore.com/Maintenance.htm

Answer 8

there is no way to stop it completely, at least you can say your tank is established but you can get a Pleco to clean up the mess to go to your local pet store and get algae away or algae be gone, ask what they would recomend also you can get a magnet cleaner to help with the algae on the glass it is the best thing that they have ever came out with in stores, hope that helps