cleaning

[panboy]

how much do u clean when u clean, and how often. i saw a site where it said to rinse each ornament and fake plant, and scrub sides, and vacuum, is all this necessary for every week? just wondering what everyone does when they do clean it, thanksa

 

[Alien Anna]

The most important thing when cleaning a tank is not to disturb the delicate biological balance that you should have in your tank (i.e. "Cycling"). If you are not familiar with the term "cycling", please follow the link in my sig and read all about it.

 

[panboy]

i know what cycling is, thanks though. im just wondering if u scrub every window and ornamant or if its not necessary. i personally dont think its necessary but i would like another opinion.

 

[Mollymomma]

Hi panboy,

When I clean my tanks I scrub down the walls to get rid of the yuckies but I don't clean every plant ( my 55 gal has real ,my 10 gal has fake) the only time I have ever scrubbed the fake plants & ornaments was when I got a bit lazy in water changes and alot of gunk had collected ) . I only vac half of the 10 gal. gravel each week & on the 55 gal. I do 1/3 of the gravel each week. Hope this helps

 

[Alien Anna]

i know what cycling is, thanks though. im just wondering if u scrub every window and ornamant or if its not necessary. i personally dont think its necessary but i would like another opinion.

Great that you know about cycling. It's distressing when so many people don't.

Anyway, my point in mentioning it is that since the beneficial bacteria are attached to the surfaces of your gravel, plants and ornaments, as well as the filter, if you over-clean your tank you could be knocking out a significant amount of beneficial bacteria, which could send your tank into a mini-cycle. So my suggestion is that you aren't too clean in your tank.