cycling fish tank question?

Question

ok my tank been active for about 3 weeks cycling, i do frequent water test and the last week my amonia lvls are low. my question what is the best way to clean the tank, with out harming bacteria. i mean like remove waste and stuff from the gravel and change water with out harming or killing the good bacteria?

Answer 1

A regular water change isn't going to harm your bacteria unless you add chemicals such as antibiotics to the tank as part of that change. The best wat to do a regular weekly water change is to use a gravel siphon, available from any pet store. Unplug your filter and heater before starting and then siphon water from the tank into a bucket. A food safe bucket is best to use, but even just a simple mop bucket works well. Keep this bucket just for use with our aquarium, nothing else. While removing the water clean the gravel with the siphon. All of them come with instructions and it's very simple. Once you have removed about 25% of the water you need to wash off your filter pad in the old tank water and replace the carbon in the filter. The carbon can be replaced every two - three weeks instead of at every water change. Wipe off the glass and any dirty ornaments using a clean cloth and water, no cleaners. The refill the tank with clean tap water that has been dechloinated and is close in temperature to the tank. Re-plug your filter and heater and your done!

MM

Answer 2

Get a gravel vacuum siphon,Stick the vacuum end into the tank, and stick the siphon end into a bucket below the tank. Get water into all of the hose, and scrape around in the gravel. It'll suck up the gravel, stir it around, and get all the gunk out. Change out somewhere between 10-40% of the water, and replace with dechlorinated water.

Any cleaning will cause SOME harm to the good bacteria, but the damage is not usually significant. When changing water, you can also clean decorations, the walls, and filter media... but only do one such chore with each water change.

Also, use two buckets for the water change. Fill one up with the new water. Attemot to get the temperature about the same in that bucket as in the tank. Add all your dechlorinating stuff into the bucket before adding the water. Then let this bucket sit while you change out some water. Letting the bucket sit is important, because it allows trapped air to escape, gets the temperature closer, and lets the dechlorinating stuff do it's thing.

Answer 3

Once a month clean the gravel and once a week do a 20% water change. If you have lots of fish in your take you may need to do the gravel twice a month. Consider it as a water change when you clean the gravel.