cleaning the bottom gravel in the tank?

Question

How do I go about doing this? The tank is 10 gals. and have a bunch of decorations and fake plants...

Answer 1

Get a gravel vacuum!

Fun and easy way to clean.
Cheap at Petco or Walmart.
You need a bucket too, and follow the directions.

Answer 2

Go get a gravel vacuum remove the decorations and fake plants. Rinse them off in plain warm water. Then vacuum your gravel. Taking out your decorations and fake plants aren't necessary every week. Just vacuum around them. You should never empty the whole tank. Only take about 20% of the tank water out each week. It is simple once you get the hang of using the siphon.

Answer 3

You have to be really dimwitted to think gravel vaccums are harder than actually taking the time to put all your fish into another container and clean the whole tank. Silly! All you do is stick the gravel vaccume under water, and when the air shoots out, it suctions up all the dirt. You can clean a 20 gallon in like 20 minutes this way, including refilling the tank with dechlorinized water. And you just can't take all the water out of a tank. For one, moving the fish is extremely stressful and mean to do to them. And two, you then need to cycle the water every time you clean the tank, making it likely you will have to deal with disease and your fish won't live as long. Save yourself time and money, and spend $5 on a gravel vaccum:)

Answer 4

Tropical fish stores sell gravel vacuums just for this purpose. You don't have to vacuum all the gravel, just kind of clean it up a bit so it doesn't look so gunky. Like a regular vacuum, just vacuum around the plants and furniture--I mean, decorations (you can gently vacuum between the plant leaves if necessary). Keep an eye out for curious fish who get too close to the intake mouth of the vacuum (you can crimp the hose part to temporarily stop the vacuum effect without having to restart it should a fish get too close). Make sure the exit end of the hose is in the bucket at all time, keep an eye out for the water level in the bucket too so you don't overflow. A python siphon will allow you to hook it up to the tap so new water can go in as the old water goes out (dirty water will go down the drain).

Answer 5

I had a 10 gal. tank for 7 years. Gravel Vaccuums are a pain in the *** lol Your best bet:

Step one - Put the fish into a bucket of water either from the tank or in fresh water in the temp. of or around that of the tank.

Step two - Empty the water.

Step three - Put the gravel into a bucket.

Step four - Rinse the gravel continuously by sifting it in the bucket. Dump the old water out and put new in and continue this process until the water emptied is clean.

You may want to rinse the decorations until the water runs clean and if you have to, take a toothbrush or toothpicks to them and clean harder to reach areas. Also remember to clean out the tank itself.

Answer 6

Look around the aquarium stores at their siphon devices,that's what you use to clean your gravel.