Cleaning divided tank

[motherof6]

I have a 10 gallon divided tank with 3 male Bettas in it. It is on the bottom of a 2 tier tank stand. It is impossible to clean like it should be. I cannot get the syphon to work because of the lack of gravity.

I have a filter and heater in it. I do not run the filter because the fish in that divider does not like it. Without the choice of moving it elsewhere what can I do?

I have even thought of buying individual containers for all of my Bettas and using that tank for something else (like a fry tank or something).

What is the best for my fish? (In your opinions?)Help!

 

[jacblades]

10 gals are super easy to do water changes on even without a siphon. just remove about half of the water with jugs or something (i use 1 gal water jugs). then you can pick up the tank and clean it properly.

 

[motherof6]

The way the stand is built it would be really hard to disconnect everything and lift it out every week to fully clean the tank.

Maybe if I used some other substrate than gravel like river rocks or something. The gravel is what is a pain to keep clean. Opinions?

 

[jacblades]

all of my tanks either have glass stones or sand. i dont have any substrate in my betta tanks because i change them so often.

 

[motherof6]

Maybe that is what I will have to give a try.

I will clean the tank best I can tomorrow and give it a clean start and see how I like it that way.

 

[cutechic]

The siphon should work, no matter what the height of the tank is. I've got a 4 gallon really close to the ground, but all one needs to do is suck on the end of the siphon to get it started, and then it should keep siphoning.

 

[motherof6]

I can get the siphon to start in a small pitcher. It will not start in the tall pail at all. Even in the pitcher when I lift the hose to dump it and cuts the water flow. Do you know how many times I would have to start it in order to clean the whole tank? I have been stiring up the water (after removing the Bettas) and draining the whole tank by scopping (BIG PAIN) and the rocks never seemed to get cleaned like I want.

Here is a picture of the tank when I first set it up. It shows how close to the floor it is and how tight it fits in the stand..