Am I killing good bacteria?

[turbotiber]

Hello everyone,

Ok I just bought a betta and a 1 g bowl and he has live plants and black gravel. The guy at the fish store told me I should clean the gravel once a week. So once a week I put the gravel in abowl, run water over it and churn and churn and rinse and churng. That's what he told me to do... but as I read I see he knows nothing about keeping fish.

Am I supposed to be do this? I've been reading about beneficial bacteria and stuff but if I don't clean the gravel how am I supposed to get the trash that's stuck down in there (like the leaves, bits of food, poop)? I don't have a filter, he's just in his bowl. I do 50% water changes every other day or every third day(especially now cause he's got ich) and clean the gravel once a week. If I"m doing it wrong, how am I supposed to do it??

Any advice greatly appreciated!!

 

[The-Wolf]

Lesson #1 don't trust lfs's

ok now to "clean" the gravel you need to buy a syphon and
you stick on end into the gravel and the other into a bucket.
the water being sucked out will take all the waste with it.

 

[Koda]

When I feel like my gravel needs a good cleaning I rinse it with my already conditioned water which is made up for the water changes.That way I am getting the waste out without doing harm to the healthy bacteria.

Koda

 

[FishDan]

Lesson #1 don't trust lfs's

Personally, I think this is terrible advice. Not all LFSs are untrustworthy. Get your info from several sources, not just one.

As for your gravel cleaning advice, I agree. A gravel vac is the way to go, and a small one can be had for a few dollars.

\Dan

 

[Kittycat]

I don't think it's a problem, my betta bowls are not cycled, since I don't have filters in them, either. So beneficial bacteria does not really picture in the equation. I just do full water changes once or twice a week.

 

[Cali]

I don't think it's a problem, my betta bowls are not cycled, since I don't have filters in them, either. So beneficial bacteria does not really picture in the equation. I just do full water changes once or twice a week.

Ditto! This is what I do, too. I have 3 one-gallon betta bowls and I do 100% water changes every week. The bowls are obviously not cycled since I do these full changes every week... my bettas are fine.



JMHO, but I think doing 100% will not do any harm to your one-gallon betta bowl. It'll keep your bowl/gravel/water really clean and as long as you keep up those changes, your amonia buildup shouldn't affect your fish.


Again, JMHO!

 

[babyfish]

I don't think it's a problem, my betta bowls are not cycled, since I don't have filters in them, either.  So beneficial bacteria does not really picture in the equation.  I just do full water changes once or twice a week.

Ditto! This is what I do, too. I have 3 one-gallon betta bowls and I do 100% water changes every week. The bowls are obviously not cycled since I do these full changes every week... my bettas are fine.



JMHO, but I think doing 100% will not do any harm to your one-gallon betta bowl. It'll keep your bowl/gravel/water really clean and as long as you keep up those changes, your amonia buildup shouldn't affect your fish.


Again, JMHO!

I have to disagree, any body of water containing fish will create the beneficial bacteria on every surface of the bowl, this includes gravel which if treated properly during water changes will help to keep the environment sweet.

100% water changes will not be a problem to the bacteria if it is treated with dechlorinator.

The only problem I can see with 100% water changes is the gas in the water that may settle out in the fish's bloodstream...a condition similar to the bends in divers...if you look at a freshly filled container of water you will see bubbles settling on surfaces.

 

[turbotiber]

Mm.. yeah people here in Mexico don't seem to be very informed on keeping fish... this other guy at another lfs told me having a lamp over my bowl will eventually blind my fish, said I can feed him sea monkeys AND tried to convince me that a 5 watt heater is PERFECT for my bowl... yeah I just bought my fish net and left.

ANYWAY, ok, I'm defintiely going to buy a siphon/gravel vac, hope I can find those here (it's simple stuff like this that makes me miss the US)

What is aging/condititioned water?

 

[Undawada]

Aging water is important to remove dissolved gases (see babyfish's comment). I let the water sit for about 24 hours in a bucket before adding it to my tank. This also helps because the water will be room temperature instead of whatever temperature it came out of the tap.

Aging can also remove chlorine from the water, but not chloramine. I don't really trust this method to remove chlorine anyway, so I use a bottled dechlorinator.

Oh, and if you're using a 1 gallon bowl, it might be easier and cheaper to just use a length of air hose tubing instead of gravel vac.

 

[turbotiber]

OOOOH ok I get it now because everytime I do 100% H2O changes, after letting it sit for 30 min. before putting in my betta, I notice that there is a bunch of bubbles coming up, as if it were mineral water... oopes, yeah I'll start doing that from now on, hope it hasn't affected Sangria (betta) in any way...

Ok, I"m dumb.. I don't know what a gravel vac looks like or works (just sucks it out right) less what air hose tubing is or how I could do that )

 

[Undawada]

Air hose, air line tubing, its all the same stuff. Just a flexibe plastic tube people hook up to air pumps, certain filters... it's a pretty standard in any pet store.

A Gravel Vac is just airline tubing with a large attachment on the end for ... well... vacuuming gravel

Gravel Vacuum

Airline Tubing

 

[Koda]

I wouldn't worry about the gravel vacc either.Everyone has their own preference for cleaning.What I do when I clean gravel in my 1 and 2gs is just to transfer the fish to a small container with some of the old water,do the clean up,and then move the fish back.It's quick and easy and it doesn't seem to bother my fish at all.

Koda

 

[TorPeteO]

Aging your water for any length of time helps, but only 30 minutes will not remove the chlorine present. I'm not sure of your local water's chemical makeup, but if aged for long enough, chloramine will break up into chlorine and ammonia. The chlorine will slowly leave the water, but it takes longer than half an hour.

I'm sure you've got dechlorinator, but I just want to make sure that you know what it is. It's integral to treating the water, as chlorine not only harms your fish, it also kills any bacteria, and you want beneficial bacteria no matter how much water you change per week.

 

[turbotiber]

OH wow, thanks for the pictures, that really helped out!

Oops, I think I forgot to put this the last post, but I do put dechlorinator in and myth blue then let it sit for 30 minutes and put my baby back in. But I do notice lots of bubbles rising to the top or clinging on to the plants. Is this bad?

I think I will be preparing a bucket of water so when it's time to clean, the water is already at room temp like Undawada mentioned, and clean the gravel with the water that's already in the bowl and just refill with clean water. Thanks for the ideas!

Thanks a bunch for helping out guys!

 

[Cali]

I wouldn't worry about the gravel vacc either.Everyone has their own preference for cleaning.What I do when I clean gravel in my 1 and 2gs is just to transfer the fish to a small container with some of the old water,do the clean up,and then move the fish back.It's quick and easy and it doesn't seem to bother my fish at all.

Koda

Yup... it's exactly what I do for my 1 gallons. I take the bettas out and put them into a small holding cup. I thoroughly clean the bowl and marbles (I have marlbes and not gravel)... I add declorinated water to the bowl and then return the fish to the bowl.


It's been working for a year now. But, to each his or her own. I found that other options are more time consuming. I can have a perfectly clean 1 gallon bowl done in less than 5 minutes....much less actually. It probably takes 2 minutes total.