how often should i clean my fishtank?

Question

its 1 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft

Answer 1

It doesn't matter if you have a saltwater or freshwater tank

The general rule is 25% partial once a week with a gravelsiphon
Just because you have a good filter, doesn't mean you don't have to clean it as often
Any time you feed your fish, there will always be food that falls down into the gravel
Fish poop is always that falls into the gravel as well

I have just set up a 55 gallon tank, and just after 3 days having fish in there, i did a partial and there was dirt in there

Keep up with maintanance and you won't have any problems




Hope that helps
Good luck



EB

Answer 2

There is a filter you can get that looks like a little box that has floss and charcoal that you should have. You can change the floss once a month. The plastic tube sometimes needs to be cleaned or the end re-cut. Never use soap and never get soap on your hands before you clean your tank. You can also take a liter of water out every week and add back in a liter of bottled water to keep it fresh. Use a little fish net to scoop out the poo every few days. If you get a live underwater plant for your tank it will help with the natural balance of your tank, too. Check the plant and pick all the snails and snail eggs off before you put it in. Rinse it under the faucet under the cold water. You don't want the little snails in your tank they are a nuisance and will take over everything.

Answer 3

We recommend that you do small frequent water changes, 10% to 20%, every 2-4 weeks. This will have to be done more often if your tank is over stocked or under filtered. Cleaning everything in the aquarium as well as changing all the filter material in your filter is a deadly combination. This alters the chemical values within the aquarium and reduces the amount of beneficial bacteria dramatically and can cause fish to go into a state of shock and die. Small frequent water changes are suggested along with partial changes of the filter material every month. Any filter material should only be rinsed with aquarium water that has been taken out of the tank. Do not use tap water. This will preserve the beneficial bacteria that help decompose toxic waste. It may be easier to change smaller amounts more often.

Answer 4

Depending on your filtration system, how much you overfeed the fish, and the kind and number of fish you have, you might need to do partial water changes once a week or once a month. I only change all of the water when I have a major problem; however, I have dual filtration -- an undergravel filter plus an oversized exterior filter hanging on the back of my 18-gallon tank.

The two biggest problems that I've seen in 26 years of keeping fish are too much light and overfeeding. Too much light often causes the water to get cloudy with green algae, in which case you have to dump everything, scrub it, and put it back. If you have fish in the tank, you have to keep some of the algae water for them to live in, so you may have to go through this process a couple of times to conquor it. To avoid, make sure that the tank is not in direct sunlight. If the room is bright, then you don't need any additional lighting.

Overfeeding is really bad because it causes ugly brown algae to grow on all surfaces and decreases water quality. To avoid, make sure that you only give as much food as the fish will eat in 3-5 minutes. It's better to feed them lightly twice a day than one heavy meal. Also, make sure that you have algae eaters - otocyclus is the kind that I have good luck with. (I might have spelled it incorrectly.)

You'll know to change the water if it is less than crystal clear or if it has any kind of smell. Also, if your fish start acting funny -- listless or excessive shimmying -- you might change some of the water.

BTW, you can mix goldfish and tropicals like guppies and mollies without a problem, but you have to make partial water changes more often. Goldfish put out a lot of waste! To do a partial change, I like to fill a bucket with water, add the water conditioner/chlorine remover, and let it sit overnight. When I'm ready to make the change, I siphon 10-25% of the water from the tank into another bucket and fill the tank with the water I let sit overnight. Letting the water sit overnight is not strictly necessary, but it does allow the water in the bucket to be the same temperature as the water in the tank. This produces less shock and stress in the fish.

This all assumes that you have a fresh water tank. If you have salt-water, then this advice may not be appropriate.

Answer 5

I do a partial which is 25% daily. A partial daily is best!!! The odd time I slip and if you have a healthy tank, proper filtration sometimes you can go a week without a water change. Depends on your set up. You will get to know your fish and reactions...With regular testing of water as well this helps.

I own 7 tanks and my biggest is 90gal. I never lose fish to disease!!!

Goldie

Answer 6

first of all, never trust anyone that says all u need is a filter. it is recommended to clean your aquarium once a week. whenever you add medicine or an overdose of salt, change the water 50 to 70% a week but when simply cleaning 25% of water should be taken and replaced.

Answer 7

Depends on the filter. Poor quality filters need an aquarium to be cleaned every week. Ultra quality filters will have an aquarium to be cleaned every 3-4 weeks.

Answer 8

any size tank you should change 25% of the water every week or two. get a gravity fed bottom vacuum tube to suck the poo out of the rocks.

Answer 9

I would change about 20% every two weeks. Siphon the bottom of the tank to remove all waste products and uneaten food.

Answer 10

i had high ammonia in my fish tank,
so i talked to a small pet shop owner. she said to first change the filter cartridge. 6-8 weeks later use a gravel vacuum to siphon out all the uneaten food and poop out of the gravel. then another 6-8 weeks later, do the cartridge, etc.
this worked for me. i'm not guaranteeing it will work for you, but you can talk to a fish expert.

after a little bit of this plan my ammonia was down to 0.0
♥