Best Way To Deep Clean A Filthy Tank ?

[thezodiac]

I have an old 30 gallon tank that has been somewhat neglected, its still cycled and had fish in it currently.

its going to take a lot of water changes to get it cleaned up,
what im wondering about is

whats the max amount i can change at a time, and how often?

and should i keep my live plants in the tank or another for now ?

 

[Peter C]

If its proper minging I'd take the fish out an do a deep clean

 

[mattlee]

doing a deep clean can do more harm than good. if the water hasnt been changed for a while then the fish will have adapted to these conditions and a deep clean will or may give them too much shock. i would start by cleaning the glass and doing a water change of about 20% then the next week up the % to 30 and so on giving the fish time to adjust back to a cleaner environment. i would also keep the plants in for now as they will be doing plenty to help you out at the minute.

take your time and dont rush it. see it as a reverse for a well kept tank

 

[Peter C]

Learn something new every day!

 

[thezodiac]

Learn something new every day!

yeah it sucks because id love to just do like 50% a day for a few days,

but too often causes things to fluctuate too much (like ph)

 

[Tolak]

The bigger concern is fluctuating hardness, more so than pH. You could do 10% daily for a week, maybe 10 days, this would bring the hardness closer to that of your tap water more gradually. After that you'll be at a point where a 50% water change won't bother them, and can deep clean as thoroughly as you like.

 

[Tizer]

I've purchased fish in softwater systems in my LFS and put them into my tap water using the conditioning in a bag method over the course of 2 hours. Maybe i'm a little harsh but i don't believe you have to mess around that much. Maybe a 33% change on say Monday, 50% on Wednesday, 66% Friday followed up by a good scrub and clean up on the weekend with another small water change of around 50% and call it job done.

 

[Craig89]

I just move the fish into my large storage tub with the tank water give the tank a really good clean and then put them back in with 3/4 of the tank and some fresh

 

[Tolak]

Maybe i'm a little harsh but i don't believe you have to mess around that much.

This is one of those cases where there's a big difference between what I would do, and what I would suggest to someone who I really don't have any knowledge of at all in regards to their fishkeeping skills or experience. That being the case I do err way on the side of caution, as I don't want to get anyone into a situation they would have a hard time getting out of. What I posted is what I suggest they do.

If it were my tank, I'd hose it with Prime, a good 4x dose. I'd vac the gravel to within an inch of it's life, double dose for the tank volume after having removed most of the water in the process of gravel cleaning, hang a hose & trickle in tap water at a rate that would double the volume of water every hour. While it's filling I'd toss any decorations in the utility sink, hose with hot tap & go at them with a sturdy scrub brush. Once the tank is filled I'd scrape algae off the sides with a wide wallboard knife, let it settle, siphon it out & top off the water, adding a bit more Prime.