Gravel?

Hi. I just cleaned my tank and the gravel still looks like this. I don't have one of those fancy gravel cleaners but I have a siphon to get the water out but the water gets to low before I'm done cleaning the gravel. So I can I actually take the gravel out to clean it once? I know it's got algae growing on it now. It's just a 10 gallon tank with 4 guppies. I clean it every other week. It's a bit of a mess because I just cleaned it and haven't put it back together yet. Also can I scrub the fake plants?

 

You can definitely scrub the fake plants, but in order to control the algae on the gravel, you'll need to control the light. Does the tank get natural sunlight? What kind of aquarium light do you have on it, and how often is it on?

 

It does get some natural light. The light I have is just the one that comes with the tank. I turn it on every other day sometimes every other 2 days but when I do turn it on its on all day while I'm at work

 

You want to get a hold on that natural light reaching the aquarium. Sunlight shining down into your aquarium is going to leave you particularly vulnerable to algae outbreaks.

 

when I do turn it on its on all day while I'm at work

I would think this is the biggest problem. if you don't have live plants, you don't need to have the light on at all. Light colored substrate will also reflect the light and grow algae faster. Keep the tank light to minimum, and try and keep all natural light out and the problem should fix itself.