Cleaning Duties

[jmkgreen]

Hi,

My first ever tank, and it's occupants got their first feeding tonight. Probably because they're still young, they didn't eat an awful lot, and thus I went to get my Interpret gravel cleaner, again for the first time.

What wasn't made clear, is that this gets rid of a lot of water along with the waste. Inside of two minutes I'd removed 10L of water, it was faster than my syphoner. Quick get another bucket and de-chlorinate it, I thought.

Now, if we're told to do a weekly PWC, and to clear up any uneaten food 15 minutes after feeding, is there not an easy way of cleaning without lots of water being sucked up?

Thanks,
James

 

[DeepSeaFishin]

Well Jmk, you do have a point there, but however here are a few tips.

When putting gravel in your tank, put only about an inch, thus minimizing how much crap can get into your gravel/sand. Secondly, when you do your PWC, simply use the gravel vaccum to suck up all the waste. That way you clean + clear out water for your water change. As long as you have a good clean-up squad ( catfish, loaches, etc. ) then there isnt much to worry about. Could you tell me the size of your tank in U.S. Gallons? And also what fish you have in it?

 

[jmkgreen]

Juwel Rekord 70L, it's done a fishless cycle.

5x Zebra Danios introduced yesterday evening. Fed some Tetra packaged bloodworms and flake food tonight. Some got eaten, but I suspect the fish are too young for most of it. No other fish.

So you reckon providing the ammonia levels don't rocket I should be good till the next weekly cleanup?

 

[DeepSeaFishin]

Ok So your tank is about 18 U.S. Gallons,

Well first, zebra danios are great fish to use in a tank, they are very active and cool to watch.

However, I HIGHLY reccomend that you purchase some kind of catfish in the next week or so.

Tip For Feeding:

When you feed your danios, feed little bits at a time so none of it falls to the bottom, thus it wont rot.

 

[jmkgreen]

Ok So your tank is about 18 U.S. Gallons,

Well first, zebra danios are great fish to use in a tank, they are very active and cool to watch.

However, I HIGHLY reccomend that you purchase some kind of catfish in the next week or so.

I'm planning on adding this in the next two weeks or so once I'm sure the water quality is stable.

Tip For Feeding:

When you feed your danios, feed little bits at a time so none of it falls to the bottom, thus it wont rot.

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When I did this, some of the fishes didn't actually take a single bite before the food hit the gravel. I thus ended up feeding a little more.

It's very hard to judge what they should be doing really, I can't yet determine their sexes either.

 

[the_faze]

From what I have read you are doing just fine.

I think the problem is that your fish are not used to thier new environemnt, and believe me once they do the second the food touches the water they will be there eating it.

FYI: I do weekly gravel cleans that also act as my water change. The food that does end up at the bottom shouldn't cause too much of a problem unless you are severely overfeeding.

Also, if you are using floating fish food (I know alot ends up at the bottom) but if the fish are done eating and there is still some floating you can easily remove it using your net.

Hope that helps and congrats on the new fish.

 

[Suricate]

Hi James,

I too a samll tank (about 20L), and like you i found that during the cleaning sessions more water was being lost than dirt. I decided to play abit with the syphon idea. I took a slightly smaller diameter of tube (not sorter, but smaller diameter wise), asa the bottom end of the syphon and then a slightly smaller (diameter) tube as the syphon pipe of sufficient length to reach teh bucket below my tank. I basically played wth different diameter pipes and have come out at a confortable diamtere to syphon with. It creates enough suction to clean out the dirt, while emptying the tank at a comfortable rate for the PWC. How often do you do a PWC?

Hi,

My first ever tank, and it's occupants got their first feeding tonight. Probably because they're still young, they didn't eat an awful lot, and thus I went to get my Interpret gravel cleaner, again for the first time.

What wasn't made clear, is that this gets rid of a lot of water along with the waste. Inside of two minutes I'd removed 10L of water, it was faster than my syphoner. Quick get another bucket and de-chlorinate it, I thought.

Now, if we're told to do a weekly PWC, and to clear up any uneaten food 15 minutes after feeding, is there not an easy way of cleaning without lots of water being sucked up?

Thanks,
James

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