Fish tank cleaning?

Question

I want a 10-20 gallon tank for my living room but my dad hurt his back and no one else would be strong enough to move it. Is there a cheap way to keep it in that room and still change the water? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Well, you shouldn't be moving it around once it's filled up. You'll disturb the environment you've created, and stress out the fish. An easier, and much safer way to change the water is with a siphon and bucket. All you need is a length of plastic tubing and a bucket or other container to do this. You place the bucket on the floor, then completely submerge the tubing in the tank and let all the air out. Place your thumb over one end of the tube, and hold it over the bucket while the other end is still submerged. When you move your thumb away, the water will be sucked out of the tank.

Answer 2

As already stated, one the tank is set up, you shouldn't move it - the stress on the seams from moving a tank with water in it is likely to create a leak.

There's a type of gravel vacuum that connects directly to a faucet, provided it has the right fittings to attach the vacuum. It uses the force of running water at the tap to suction water from your tank. A switch of a lever and new water is directed into your tank to fill it. http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/product/productInfo.web?picGroupKey=10554

These aren't the most efficient things to clean (you'll need to run several times the volume of water that will be removed from the tank, so look at increased water bills), but they do work. You'll have to experiment to get the correct water temperature at the tap before adding it to the tank, and add any dechlorinator to the tank.

You could also just use a small bucket, or not fill up the one you normally would use when doing water changes - it will just mean more trips to a sink/drain. Remember that water weights about 8.3 pounds per gallon, so you can roughly estimate how much water can be removed at one time

Answer 3

Sure. Pet stores have this siphon gizmo - it has a bulb built into it, and you put one end into the tank near the bottom and squeeze the bulb and that pumps the water up and the other end goes into a bucket and empties the water and then you put more water in. But a well maintained tank should not require this very often at all.

Answer 4

water changes should be done every week after tank has cycled. remove water with a syphin hose you can get one a local walmart. take out 30% of the water remember to clean the gravel. then when your done just add same temp water back in. if your taking out all the water and cleaning the gravel its going to mess up your good bacteria.

Answer 5

You could install a filter in there it'd keep the water pretty clean and also get an allege eating fish.

Answer 6

change the water(20-35%) every week or two with a siphon.when washing your filter, siphon some tankwater out and wash your filter in a bucket with the tankwater.
lastly, try not to have full water changes i would only do it every 400 days.

Answer 7

use your toothbrush. it works well.....