Tank Maintence

[tttnjfttt]

I was wondering how often, if ever people do a very deep cleaning of their tank, removing everything except the substrate (or even including the substrate)

After seeing one of my fish stiring gunk up behind one of my many caves i decided it was time for one and it was extremely discusting! i felt bad for my little fishy friends. I know i need to do this more often, and was wondering what everyone else does

 

[Durbkat]

All I have in my tanks is the gravel and some plastic plants and I just go around the plants and if a plant gets up rotted while I'm vacuming I'll vacum under where it was but thats it.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Fairly randomly really, on the tanks I never think look right, it can be as often as every week or two, on the others, whenever I feel the need.

 

[Fish_Mike]

I haven't done it yet, but I can imagine I'd do it fairly rarely

 

[WILDER]

Every time i do a water change and vac.

 

[Torrean]

I don't clean my ornaments cause I like the green that grows on my pottery but if I did I'd take them out one at a time. One each or every other water change.

 

[ravekiss]

I do a major clean about once every three months. Take everything out except the gravel and fish (sometimes I take the fish out too, about twice a year).

 

[tidytourniquet]

I never take the decorations out of the tank. I just try and vac really good, if I see more then usual debris near a piece I just move it over a little and get down in the gravel really good under it

 

[Ami]

About every 3 months for me - everything but the sand and fish comes out.

In fact, came home from work early yesterday especially to do that on the FW tank. Mainly because it needed a really good vac and it's not easy to do without taking everything out.

I was also a tad bored with the layout and one of the amazons swords had taken over the middle of the tank. I'm presuming that my tube needs replaced because the other swords, bought at the same time, are nowhere near as large. So I moved all the large plants to the side and the smaller plants into a kinda cove I made in the middle, between the bogwood.

I'm glad I did it now, but after 4 hours of fiddling last night I sure wasn't!

Ami

 

[Nina]

Never take everything out. Just hover up the excess poo with via the syphon when the water changes are being done.

It would take forever taking everthing out and cleaning and putting back. Plus it would upset and stress the fish if I came along everyweek and moved their homes about.

 

[Torrean]

not to mention bacteria genocide.

 

[CBTF]

Well.. unlike many others I love the way algae looks on the base of my tank so that should give you a hint as to how often I take care of the base.

I just maintain the water levels. The bottom stays clean because I have a large ghost shrimp and 3 catfish, 2 apple snails.

 

[tttnjfttt]

CBFT - you said you nust maintain water levels. It is actually really important to do regular water changes. When water evaporates out, only water (h20) is removed, but minerals, nitrates, and anything else in the water is left behind. If you only refill your tank, this can lead to problems down the road, especailly big problems if you try to introduce new fish. Do a google search on old tank syndrome.

 

[Mr Miagi]

If you gravel vac, and have sufficient water movement, detritus/algae shouldnt build up that bad. Unless your heavily stocked. Just syphon your gravel at every water change, and you should be ok.

Maybe increas filtration/water movement by using an external filter.

I personally just gravel vac the tank when im water changing, and take my bogwood out for a scrub twice a year.

 

[Dwarfs]

The only time that I will take the decor out of my tank is to catch a stubborn fish. Besides that, I empty tanks when I start a new setup or move the tank