cheers

[chishnfips]

Cheers for the help, managed to sort the misty water problem in my tank. I bought some stress zyme to help the biological filtering, I had recently bought a new filter and it was not quite up to speed. I also cut down their feeding and raise the PH as it was too low, and the tank has started to clear up.

I also checked the ammonia levels and nitrite levels and they are both at 0.

But how do you know if your nitrate levels are fine I couldn't see a test kit for them.

 

[clutterydrawer]

There are test kits for nitrates. maybe your lfs just doesnt sellthem, or was out of stock that day.

 

[chishnfips]

B) Cool, what about when I clean my tank, I do water changes every week or so but how often do I totally clean my tank and do I totally empty it and scrub the gravel or do I just take out all the water and fill it back up.

Also I am wanting to buy a 60 gallon tank, how easy are they to clean and to keep, it would take an effort to clean the whole tank, especially if you have plants that have rooted themselves into the gravel.

 

[clutterydrawer]

B) Cool, what about when I clean my tank, I do water changes every week or so but how often do I totally clean my tank and do I totally empty it and scrub the gravel or do I just take out all the water and fill it back up.

Also I am wanting to buy a 60 gallon tank, how easy are they to clean and to keep, it would take an effort to clean the whole tank, especially if you have plants that have rooted themselves into the gravel.

NEVER.


Got that?


Never scrub clean all the gravel, as it will disrupt the cycle. And never do a 100% water change, cos its just far too stressful for the fish. (and for you ).

Do you water changes every week, and vac the gravel - by which i mean clean it lightly with the wide end of the siphon, not totally scrubbing the whole lot.
At the same time scrape any algae off the walls, and check the heater and filter are functioning properly. Every month or so clean your filter (might be less/more, I don't know what filter you have)

A 60 gallon would be great I don't have one that big but i imagine the main extra work will be in water changes cos you'll have to change lots more water. however the tank over all would be more stable and healthy because its a bigger volume of water.

 

[chishnfips]

You can get little vac cleaner things from pet stores can't you?

 

[aloaring]

Water change should be done about once a week and only take out about 20% of the water and rinse the filter media in the old tank water !! Good Luck

 

[clutterydrawer]

You can get little vac cleaner things from pet stores can't you?

yep, they only cost about £3-4.

 

[chishnfips]

have they got little gauzes on them to stop sucking up all the gravel, or something?

 

[Phantom Thief]

Unless your gravel is really small, it wont get sucked up. If you have sand, then you must hover the vacuum several inches above it to suck up all the poop.



P.T.

 

[chishnfips]

how do they work? do you have top connect them up to a hose that goes into a bucket, or do they have their own sort of waste bag thing?

 

[clutterydrawer]

I think there's different types. The one I have is very basic, it's just a siphon hose with a wider part at one end. You do it just as if you're siphoning water from yor tank but gently (key word!) agitate the grvale a bit, so any dirt and debris gets exposed and sucked up by the siphon. the gravel will dance around a bit but is too heavy to actually be sucked up. of course it's a different story if you've got sand

 

[chishnfips]

Nice one thanks very much