one of my tanks have no fish in it at the moment.trying to get everythin where is susposto be for my tropical fish had things wrong with my tank had to put them in my other one..problem is there is alot of extra food flakes in the bottom of my tank now big filter is on and i am constantily taking the fish net and removing some of it is there anything else i can do to get it out quicker with out haveing too change all the water and wash everything..
2007-02-08 07:21:53 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
but i thought high ammonia was bad for the fish there are no fish in my tank at he moment but they are waiting to get baCK in and water is cloudy and food flakes at bottom i have used water safe plus and ammonia clear in the tank as well
2007-02-08 08:01:57 · update #1
Use a gravel vacuum. You can suck out all that stuff, and you can strain it through a fish net if you want to keep the water.
However, while your tank is without fish, you need to keep the bacteria alive. The bacteria, I mean, are the ones that "eat" the ammonia produced by fish into much less toxic nitrates. If you starve the bacteria, they'll die, so when you put your fish back in you'll have to go through a new cycle all over again, and you may lose some of your fish.
So, I suggest you just let the fish food rot. I mean, you can take out some if, but leave some of it in the tank, too. When you do put the fish in you can replace half the water before you put them in to make sure it is clean.
2007-02-08 08:57:32 · answer #1 · answered by Zoe 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
out of experience since everyone seems to tell you to clean the gravel I'll just tell you how to clear up your tank and keep the ammonia down. a carbon filter bag and ammonia zeolites rocks are good.. I have a carbon/bio filter for my whisper fliter and my tank has never been clearer. and i have a bit of ammonia zeolite rocks that I washed throughly before adding a few into my tank. i think there called diamonds something or something diamonds, you can find them at walmart or pet stores, then check your water. the only bad thing about the ammonia diamond zeolites is that you have to change them every 30 days or the zeolites back fire and release the ammonia back into the water. well good luck and hope everything goes well.
2007-02-11 23:02:40 · answer #2 · answered by aNna 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a gravel vacuum, and thoroughly vacuum the gravel. In order to keep this tank cycled while there are no fish in it you should run both filters on the tank that currently has the fish in it. Then when you get ready to put the fish back in, move the filter back as well. This will keep the bacteria active in your filter (without fish, the "good" bacteria will die, and you will go through another cycle).
2007-02-08 16:30:57 · answer #3 · answered by Liz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Turkey baster. Extra food is good though, the ammonia from the food will keep the tank cycled while there are no fish in it.
2007-02-08 15:46:25 · answer #4 · answered by bzzflygirl 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
get a gravel vacuum. you can get them anywhere, like wal-mart. and it will have instructions on how to use. a larger full sized one is less than 10 bucks
2007-02-08 15:38:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋