Deep Clean Help

Hey everyone.

I will be returning from a week long vacation, and was hoping to get a good deep clean on my tank. I was planning on gravel vacuuming, scrubbing decorations, check filter, and about a 50% water change (all with just plain hot tap water, no chemicals)

What other tips would you guys recommend to help get my tank back to slick and clean?

 

What size is your tank and what fish are in it? What kind of filter do you have?

I would caution against the deep clean that you are describing. A full gravel vacuum and scrubbing the decorations in tap water will kill/disturb your beneficial bacteria and could cause a ammonia spike and sick fish.

It's often suggested to vacuum a third of your gravel at a time to help keep the bacteria in balance. And unless your decorations are filthy, I would just leave them alone. If you want, rinse them off in tank water. Tap water will kill the bacteria.

The water change and filter checking is a good idea tho.

 

So the gravel I would just leave be unless its really dirty! What size tank? What is your stocking? There isn't enough BB though on the decoration and gravel to cause the cycle of your tank to become mess up though.

 

What size is your tank and what fish are in it? What kind of filter do you have?

I would caution against the deep clean that you are describing. A full gravel vacuum and scrubbing the decorations in tap water will kill/disturb your beneficial bacteria and could cause a ammonia spike and sick fish.

It's often suggested to vacuum a third of your gravel at a time to help keep the bacteria in balance. And unless your decorations are filthy, I would just leave them alone. If you want, rinse them off in tank water. Tap water will kill the bacteria.

The water change and filter checking is a good idea tho.

Tank: 20 gallon long
Stocking: Betta, 2 Sunburst Platties, 2 female guppies, 2 panda corys, 4 neon tetras, amano shrimp (I know it's not perfect, but I'm working on getting everything better)
Filter: Unknown HOB filter with a sponge, carbon, and biomedia.

So if I wanted to clean the decorations, just submerge them in a bucket of tank water and scrub with a rag?

I figured a full gravel vacuum would be necessary because of a build up of a week's worth of fish poop.

So the gravel I would just leave be unless its really dirty! What size tank? What is your stocking? There isn't enough BB though on the decoration and gravel to cause the cycle of your tank to become mess up though.

I just replied to this on another reply!
I figured a gravel vacuuming would be necessary for a week's worth of fish poop??

 

Do you want help on the stocking since you have a couple problems with it! So the vacuuming as long as you don't do more than 50% water change you should be fine! Do you have a picture of your filter?

 

Do you want help on the stocking since you have a couple problems with it! So the vacuuming as long as you don't do more than 50% water change you should be fine! Do you have a picture of your filter?

Thank you but no. I've posted on here about my stocking before, and gotten lots of suggestions. I have a 5 gallon cycling so I can move my betta and get more neons and corys to make for optimum shoaling.

Why no more than 50%?

Currently no, when I get to the hotel I can pull up a pic I have on my computer.

 

You don't want to change the whole water chemistry!

 

Good evening,

You should never deep clean your tank ordainments as there may be beneficial bacteria living there. Also if you must clean something, do it with the tank water. The same way you would clean your filter.

 

Good evening,

You should never deep clean your tank ordainments as there may be beneficial bacteria living there. Also if you must clean something, do it with the tank water. The same way you would clean your filter.

So if I have some buildup, what do I do to clean the gunk off?

 

You can clean the decoration! There isn't a lot of BB on the decoration. Most of it is in your filter!

 

As noted, tank water is the way to go when cleaning the items from the tank! Don't use tap water though to clean anything as you risk washing off the BB.

 

It is definitely ok to do a deep clean of the gravel. It's even safe to clean the decorations with tap water. You won't loose much of any BB, 95% of the BB is in/on your filter. When it comes to cleaning the filter, use old tank water, this will keep your BB alive. Do not let your media dry out.

I think the reason why people say don't deep clean gravel comes from the days when undergravel filters were very popular. That's when all of your BB was under the gravel. With canister filters, and HOB filters, that is not much of a concern.

 

Yep agree! Now a days there is the myth of the BB in the gravel but that no longer applies anymore unless you are still using a under gravel filter only.

Also I think you can do more than a 50% water change but I suggest don't go over the 75% mark! And plus your vacuum won't work when the water level reaches the part where the hose connects to the vacuum.