Lots of floaty bits, after cleaning

[fishy_sean94]

Just looking to see if I'm doing things correctly.

Had my tank set up for a few months now and everything seems to be going well, but even after spending a fair bit of time cleaning it seems there's still quite a bit of what I can describe as "floaty mess" that seems to kick up I assume from the gravel after finishing up and putting clean water back in to the tank.

I always use a brush and sponge to scrape as much dirt as I can find around the corners and parts of the tank first, so that I can syphon at least a good majority of that out when doing the water change.

My tank "looks" very clean and clear, it's only for about 15-20 minutes or so after finishing doing a water change and clean up that this is noticable, and then all the rubbish still in there settles again but I just feel like I'm doing something wrong as there's still bits in there I can't seem to fully remove.

 

[Aspen35]

What fish do you have? I find this happens with goldfish, for example, as they can be quite a bit messier than small tropical fish. Making sure you gravel vacuum the right way is important, so that you aren't releasing everything back into the water column. You won't be able to remove absolutely everything.

 

[Naughts]

Using a gravel cleaner should siphon away a lot of the debris. If you are not already, I recommend rinsing filter media (sponges, floss, biomedia) each week in a bucket of old tank water. Take care not to overfeed. Pouring new water in through a sieve reduces the disturbance.
If it's clearing quickly don't worry.

 

[fishy_sean94]

What fish do you have? I find this happens with goldfish, for example, as they can be quite a bit messier than small tropical fish. Making sure you gravel vacuum the right way is important, so that you aren't releasing everything back into the water column. You won't be able to remove absolutely everything.

I have 6 danio's.

Is it best to "knock" the gravel about a bit to let extra mess release so I can syphon it out, or best to just let it rest and only syphon "gently" along the bottom?

Using a gravel cleaner should siphon away a lot of the debris. If you are not already, I recommend rinsing filter media (sponges, floss, biomedia) each week in a bucket of old tank water. Take care not to overfeed. Pouring new water in through a sieve reduces the disturbance.
If it's clearing quickly don't worry.

Admittedly I don't rinse the filter media out weekly, but I shall try doing that more often to see if it helps.
Pretty sure I'm not overfeeding, they only get a small pinch of flakes each day.
And I have the Fluval Flex which has compartments at the back for the filter, heater etc, which is where I pour new water in so it doesn't disturb the things in the tank or stress the fish out

 

[Aspen35]

You should find this video helpful. There’s more than one way to do it, but some work better than others.