I've gotten lazy!!

Ok so the title says it all. I'm gonna admit it I've gotten lazy. What once was a beautiful 20 gallon tank is now an absolute mess! Almost all my Cryptocoryne plants have died(I have a few small buds left) and the Anubias is looking real rough. The water is pretty cloudy and an algae bloom just started yesterday. My fish are happy and thriving I just got really behind in overall maintenance.
Some personal issues took some of that out of my hands(in a recent move I had to leave my tank at my MIL's for a little bit, until which time it was better for me to move it). She didn't exactly help me keep up the maintenance while I was away like she said she would. Since I got my tank back I have been trying to get things back on track but I'm failing. TBH I was never very good with maintenance and with a lower fish budget than most it also makes maintenance difficult and longer than I have time for(I have 6 children).
I really need some advice. I don't want to scrap this hobby I love it and my kids enjoy watching all the fish play but I don't want to see my water babies suffer because I'm horrible at taking care of their home.
Please any suggestions or advice would be great even if you think I should scrap the hobby. I'll take any help or brutal honesty I need to hear.

 

You need to decide if you have the time to properly care for the tank. With 6 children, I can only imagine how hectic it must be!

 

You need to decide if you have the time to properly care for the tank. With 6 children, I can only imagine how hectic it must be!

That's what I've been thinking about for the last couple days. I just recently started investing in a bigger tank. And I was thinking this thread would be my deciding factor. I'm looking for either better tips at maintenance that I haven't discovered myself that makes it feel like less of a chore or just the honesty I need to go dormant for while (until time for maintenance arises).

Right now water changes and cleaning my 20 gallon takes so long. I drain my tank using a medium size manual gravel vacuum into a 3 gallon vessel toting it to my bathroom to dump until I have drained the desired amount. And then for glass cleaning I only have a small cheap toothbrush and credit cards.
Cleaning the filters is another chore because I haven't found or thought of an easier way other than rinsing it in water once a month.
And to fill it back up I tote 2 1 gallon jugs of dechlorinated water back and forth from my nearest faucet to my tank until it is full again. The whole process takes almost 2 hrs.

 

That is a long time for a 20 gallon tank. Have you thought about investing in a Python? With the Python, I can do my 20 gallon tank in about 10 minutes if I have everything out, or 20 minutes start to finish if I have to hook everything up.

 

That is a long time for a 20 gallon tank. Have you thought about investing in a Python? With the Python, I can do my 20 gallon tank in about 10 minutes if I have everything out, or 20 minutes start to finish if I have to hook everything up.

Now I've heard about those but I have never seen them in action. What exactly are the mechanics of it? Are they an easy set up?

 

How old are your kids ? I had aquariums since childhood and I cleaned them myself. You could give the older ones cleaning the tank chore.

 

With six children I can certainly understand that there's a lot of demands on your time. Are some of them old enough to help with the tank maintenance? I would assume so, and that should take some of the load off of you.

I'm a big believer in children helping around the house, and whether or not they want to doesn't factor into it much.

 

Now I've heard about those but I have never seen them in action. What exactly are the mechanics of it? Are they an easy set up?

Very easy to set up. You hook it up to your faucet. There is a fitting on the end pf the part you hook to your faucet. Turn it one way, it sucks water out of your aquarium (and vacuums the gravel). Turn it the other way, it pours water into your tank. I am sure there are youtube videos on it.

And I really like the ideas above of getting the children involved, if they are old enough.

 

How old are your kids ? I had aquariums since childhood and I cleaned them myself. You could give the older ones cleaning the tank chore.

They are 9 8 6 3 and 2
They help out around the house alot. The all have 'After dinner chores'. After homework and dinner they each clean and vacuum one room in house and whoever finishes first helps the babies were their rooms(which that usually makes for a thorough job because the older 3 don't like helping the babies with their rooms). Ha. I never thought of that tho. I will have to try it. I guess I just always thought they were still too young and would be too rough.

Very easy to set up. You hook it up to your faucet. There is a fitting on the end pf the part you hook to your faucet. Turn it one way, it sucks water out of your aquarium (and vacuums the gravel). Turn it the other way, it pours water into your tank. I am sure there are youtube videos on it.

And I really like the ideas above of getting the children involved, if they are old enough.

I just watched some videos on it. OMG where has this been all my life!?!
Does anybody know about it's effect on sand? All the videos I saw were of people deep vacuuming the bigger gravel or rocks. Do I have to worry about sucking up a lot of my sand when I would do a deep vacuum?

 

You can't use it on sand, unless you want it all sucked right out of your aquarium lol. In the case of sand, you simply wave the wand a few inches above the sand, to get any detritus laying on it to float. Then just suck it up.

 

You can't use it on sand, unless you want it all sucked right out of your aquarium lol. In the case of sand, you simply wave the wand a few inches above the sand, to get any detritus laying on it to float. Then just suck it up.

So no deep clean with sand?

 

They are 9 8 6 3 and 2
They help out around the house alot. The all have 'After dinner chores'. After homework and dinner they each clean and vacuum one room in house and whoever finishes first helps the babies were their rooms(which that usually makes for a thorough job because the older 3 don't like helping the babies with their rooms). Ha. I never thought of that tho. I will have to try it. I guess I just always thought they were still too young and would be too rough.


I just watched some videos on it. OMG where has this been all my life!?!
Does anybody know about it's effect on sand? All the videos I saw were of people deep vacuuming the bigger gravel or rocks. Do I have to worry about sucking up a lot of my sand when I would do a deep vacuum?

The 9 and 8 yr old can do it. I was that age when I was doing it. Just give them buckets that they can carry and they can go back and forth as many times as needed. They can vavuume the gravel and scrub the glass. Those are pretty easy tasks too. Just make sure they don't forget the dechlorinate.

 

The 9 and 8 yr old can do it. I was that age when I was doing it. Just give them buckets that they can carry and they can go back and forth as many times as needed. They can vavuume the gravel and scrub the glass. Those are pretty easy tasks too. Just make sure they don't forget the dechlorinate.

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! Thank you!
So I'm gonna recruit some little water changing hands. And maybe even get that python too.


Does anybody have any suggestions on my cloudy water and algae bloom problem? Any suggestions on a better glass cleaner than toothbrushes and credit cards? Lol.

 

Any suggestions on a better glass cleaner than toothbrushes and credit cards? Lol.

I've seen videos of people using these. I haven't tried it but thinking about it!

 

So for a cloudy problem I had a few yrs back I read that poly fill works great. Luckily my MIL found some laying around her house(I think it was for her small AC vents). My problem is I have looked all over my local Walmart and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. They have the broke up clumpy kind but I'm looking for the thin strips like I used before. I haven't looked at my local PetSmart yet. I wanted to get some opinions from here: A good place to find, reasonable price, best kind or kind you guys have had success with. I've looked on Amazon and I'm finding brands as high as 80!

 

I have 4 tanks that I clean every Saturday, but I do have help, I have 4 grandsons that love to come over and help with the tanks.

My oldest is 12 and youngest is 7, 2 years ago I bought and set up a 20 gallon long for there house. They take care of it better then people I know that are 30, 40, and 50.

Let your 2 oldest start off with easy things to help out with and also teach them how much food they need.

 

I have 4 tanks that I clean every Saturday, but I do have help, I have 4 grandsons that love to come over and help with the tanks.

My oldest is 12 and youngest is 7, 2 years ago I bought and set up a 20 gallon long for there house. They take care of it better then people I know that are 30, 40, and 50.

Let your 2 oldest start off with easy things to help out with and also teach them how much food they need.

I watched a video on that algae magnet and one of them was a review that a little girl no older than 9 or 10 was making on her own.