Aquarium gravel?

Question

What is the best way to keep the gravel clean, last time I added fine beach sand in my cichlid tank 6 months ago but it became so dirty and black that I had to removed it and add new gravel. So is there any filteration system or any process to keep the gravel clean and free from accumulated dirt of fishes.

Answer 1

Just use a gravel vacuum that you can pick up at any decent pet store and clean the gravel as you do your weekly water changes.

MM

Answer 2

There are several filtering systems you can use to help keep the gravel clean. The easiest, if you already have a tank set up is simply an aquarium vacum. It sucks up the dirt through a tube, but is not powerful enough to suck up the stones. The other involves redoing the tank. There are slotted platforms you can put on the bottom of your tank, and attach the filter system to the tubes on the platform, then put your gravel on top of the platforms. The dirt will filter through the gravel and down under the platforms, and the filter will suck up the dirt. Your local pet store should have all these items. Just ask and they will set you up with the best system for your tank.

Answer 3

You want to stray away from fine mediums such as sand in cichlid tanks. They need the beneficial bacteria that forms in between the gravel to keep the water in balance.

The best way to clean the gravel is to purchase a gravel vacuum. I have priced around quite a bit myself and ended up going with one that ran $35 for my 30 gal tank. One end hooks up to your sink and the other has a tube that goes in your tank. As you run the water from your sink pressure pulls the gravel slightly up the tube and removes any extra debris from the gravel. After vacuuming the gravel you simply move a lever on the sink and on the tube to refill the water taken from the tank itself in the vacuum process. This is a great investment since it also works great for water changes and adding water to new tanks.

I would also stray away from using any type of chemical if possible since whatever you put in your tank stays in your tank. Depending on the size of your tank i would say to vacuum the gravel each time you do a water change. This way as you vacuum the gravel you are removing the 25% of water from the tank you need to take out and can easily refill with fresh water.

Answer 4

when you go to the pet store keep in mind the size of the tank and how much gravel you have in there. you can get a set up called an under gravel filter, it may be under other names like subterranean filter. two things to make sure of is the size of the granules of your gravel. and if there are living aquatic plants in your tank. these do not fare well to a filter such as this. it will starve your plants of nutrients. and if there is some sand still in your tank, it may plug up the filter causing the unit to malfunction.
most under gravel filters hook up to your regular filtration system.
but i would check with a knowledgeable pet store for more info on that.

Answer 5

relies upon a great deal on what variety of fish/animal you have in it, what number, how enormous the tank is, what variety of filter out, and greater. maximum people recommend gravel considering the indisputable fact that's yet another place for good micro organism to advance. some fish choose sand to dig in, so substrate is a could desire to. on the different hand, in case you have something rather messy, which consists of a turtle, or a sort of fish standard for ingesting gravel, then gravel is a no-no. no count what you nonetheless could vacuum the backside of the tank, despite if there's no gravel gunk will flow to the backside. I choose gravel in fish tanks because of the fact in my opinion i think of curiously greater valuable.

Answer 6

A gravel vaccuum AKA siphon is used to sift through the substrate, large or small and get all the food particals and waste materials out from the gravel. Siphons are also helpful to make water changes too. It's like killing 2 birds w/one stone (w/out really killing anything).

Answer 7

Water changes! Perform water changes often. Cichlids are known to be messy eaters. By performing water changes, this will help remove food and other floating particles from the water that can create an environment for algae and such.

Also you could consider adding a pleco to your group of fishes. This fish dines on algae.

Answer 8

simply buy a bottom tank gravel cleaner

Answer 9

yes there is