I have a 55 gal tank with cichlids how frequently do i have to clean it?

Question

and what chemicals do i put in once i cleaned it, i have AmQuel and AmQuel plus. are these the right chemicals to use?

Answer 1

Yes, you need to add the correct amount of Amquel to neutralize the chlorine and chloramines in your tap water.
You will have to do weekly water changes. Get a gravel syphon tube and a clean, fish-only 5 gallon bucket, which you can use to suck out 30% of the water (get into the gravel, too) once a week, and replace it with fresh new water treated with Amquel.

Did you set up your tank recently? If so, you will need to do more frequent water changes to reduce the amount of ammonia and nitrites that the fish produce over the next few weeks; so do 10% every day or 15% every other day for the next 3 weeks, and bring your water to the petstore for them to test it once a week (or buy your own testing kit) - when you ammonia and nitrites are at ZERO, then your tank is safe, and you can just do regular weekly 25-30% water changes to keep the tank clean.

Answer 2

while you're growing to be to be cichlids i individually like south american purchase africans are truthfully plenty greater alluring. With a 55g you're probaly going to have a coach tank so dont circulate and purchase fish from petsmart. they have all mixed species from all the lakes. i'd circulate on your LFS and purchase purely one kind. Such are labs or mbunas or shop on with a lake. i think of the main beautful are the cichlids from lake Malawi and you will %. up some outstanding 3-4 inchers for around $20. i would not mixture them becuase it is going to reason fairly some rigidity and confident returned you will see fairly some puppy shops mixture their cichlids at the same time. solid good fortune with the hot tank!

Answer 3

When I had my set-up I cleaned it about once a month. I used a bottom cleaner. I stopped using it once there was little dirt coming up from the rocks. Then I would get a clean bucket and use stuff Then added stress zyme, accu-clear and stuff to get rid of chlorine. I also take out the filters and clean them real well twice a month or more if you have a lot of fish. Bigger tanks are nice because it means less cleaning :)

Answer 4

There is a link below that describes how to clean and maintain an aquarium

Answer 5

change the water AT LEAST once a month