Gravel cleaning

[sumo]

Hi new to this game,
Have bought a second hand fish tank,fluval filter system with 4 fintails & a common goldfish (so i'm told by previous owner) has a couple of plants & loadsa gravel.

My question is you state do not kill the good bacteria - how do you go about cleaning the gravel & not killing the bacteria ? what do i need to clean the gravel ?

The tank has been setup 4 3 weeks i do a weekly 25% waterchange & the fish are very active & very healthy looking.
Please advise

 

[Pointy_kitty]

how are you doing water changes?
with a syphon?
cause thats how you clean the gravel
once a week you should drain 15%-25% (depending on how dirty the tank is)
by digging/stirring through the gravel with the syphon
it vaccumes out the waste that settles at the bottom
the most common mistakes that people make that kill good bacteria are:
regularly removing all decorations and boiling/cleaning them
and rinsing the sponge in hot tap water (it should be rinsed in a bucket of tank water to keep the maximum amount of good bacteria and still cleaning the sponge of waste)

 

[sumo]

Thanks i will get a syphon, just been removing the water with an old pan & leaving the water taken from the tap (previously left standing for a day in a bucket) and putting that into the tank.

Told by old owner that this is the system he used ? (water is treated with declorination drops supplied by previous owner) again noinstructions with box but told he has used the system 4 a year & his fish are ok.

I have bought these 4 the kids & do not want them dropping dead in a week or 2 due to A. bad advise or B. me being new to it. !!

 

[tmlhaus]

Depending on your tank, you may not want to gravel vac every time you change the water. Maybe every other time...or...you could gravel half your tank one week and the other side next week. This way you're not upsetting the entire tank all at once.