What Am I Doing Wrong In My Cleaning Routine

Question about cleaning my tank.
I do weekly 20% water changes. I take out the orients and plastic plants and wash them. I clean the glass with a scrapper. Than I removed 20% or so of water. I rinse off my filter in the water I removed. What is left in the tank is so dirty and lots of floating debris. I condition my new water and match the temperature. Start up the pump and heater and put the plants, decoration and moss back in. After some time the water clears up. But I would really like to clean the junk out of the tank. What is the best way to clean gravel, remove the debris. I see online how to use a siphon. The problem is my tank is only a 2.5 gallon if I try to siphon method I would run out of water before the gravel would be clean. I purchased this vacuum and it was a waist of money. It would not even bring any water up to filter bag.

 

Try getting a normal pump siphon for like $5. Put filter media cartridge or some type of foam/fine media on the output side of the siphon but instead of pushing the water into a bucket push the water back into your tank. This won’t change any water or remove things like ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites but the fine media will filter all the debris out. As long as you keep changing the water like you all ready are the mesh should clean out most of the debris. The finer the mesh/foam the more debris will be filtered out.

 

In my experience there isn't really a way to clean the substrate without a siphon. It's also very difficult to get all of the debris out of gravel just because it usually will sink between the rocks and get stuck. I personally find a sand substrate easier to clean because the gunk just forms a little layer and is easy to see. You could try using some airline tubing as a siphon so you don't remove water as quickly.

 

I agree with Salem. Using airline tubing would make much less flow.

 

is your tank filtered? if not,you'll need to use your hands to disturb the gravel & then fish net out gunk.

This is why I prefer using enzymes to help break down the biomaterial. It makes cleaning much easier.

 

Sand substrate is easy to keep clean because the gunk stays on top of the sand instead of going in all the crevices of the gravel.

 

is your tank filtered? if not,you'll need to use your hands to disturb the gravel & then fish net out gunk.

This is why I prefer using enzymes to help break down the biomaterial. It makes cleaning much easier.

Yes I have a chorale filter.

I see photos of Betta fish tanks that have bare bottoms. Is that a good idea and is it easier to clean?

 

I see photos of Betta fish tanks that have bare bottoms. Is that a good idea and is it easier to clean?

It's super easy to clean- you'll still need to siphon out debris but its a lot faster. Substrate is usually just an aesthetic choice unless you have live plants.

 

It probably wouldn’t make much difference you would still have to siphon or clean the bottom of your tank. A sand bottom looks better and does not change cleaning much. It could make it faster though.

 

Might want to try this:

Try here on how to build a Micro Gravel Vacuum/Water Polisher for small tanks that recirculates the water back into your tank.

Diy Micro Gravel Vacuum/water Polisher

You can also use pumps that have a 5v USB interface so you don’t have to wire anything anymore. Here are a few:

Echpow [USB Version] 5v - 12v Small Submersible Water Pump 63 GPH

You can build this in about 10 minutes.

 

It probably wouldn’t make much difference you would still have to siphon or clean the bottom of your tank. A sand bottom looks better and does not change cleaning much. It could make it faster though.

Can I put the sand in on my next water change?

 

I guess you could. It might be a messy process. Just make sure you don’t bury anything important like fish or plants or snails. Watch a YouTube video on how to change aquarium substrate. Good luck!

 

If you do switch to sand know that even if you rinse the sand out you will almost definitely have cloudy water for a day or two after.

 

Npiche3 , I use sand in my tanks and it's a lot easier to clean versus gravel, as the other members stated.

The best way to clean sand is with a bucket and garden hose.

Since it's for a small tank, it won't take long to rinse.

The goal is to have the sand rinsed well enough so none of the grains float when disturbed. All thr grains should sink back down and not turn the water cloudy.

You may want to also look into upgrading to a 5 gallon or 10 gallon tank.

Keeping a slightly larger tank clean and cycled properly is actually easier than maintaining a smaller tank.

Is there an algae build up on the decor? It may not need removal and rinsing every week.

 

Being that its a 2.5 gallon you can use airline tubing attached to a skewer it'll siphon out the water nice and slow to allow you to get a lot of the debris. Also you can get a lot out using a turkey baster. Stir it to one corner of the tank and suck it up that way. Another thing is when you do your WC you can use those methods and let the "gunk" settle to the bottom of your pail or bucket and take a cup and re add the water once or twice to remove more of the mess on the bottom then re add your new water till your next WC.

 

Try getting a normal pump siphon for like $5. Put filter media cartridge or some type of foam/fine media on the output side of the siphon but instead of pushing the water into a bucket push the water back into your tank. This won’t change any water or remove things like ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites but the fine media will filter all the debris out. As long as you keep changing the water like you all ready are the mesh should clean out most of the debris. The finer the mesh/foam the more debris will be filtered out.

I use the filter method you describe with good results but not on the end of a siphon.
I'd like to ask how you can "push the water back into your tank"? I didn't think you could siphon from 1 tank while it runs into the same tank.
I'm missing something there.
Thanks

Question about cleaning my tank.
I do weekly 20% water changes. I take out the orients and plastic plants and wash them. I clean the glass with a scrapper. Than I removed 20% or so of water. I rinse off my filter in the water I removed. What is left in the tank is so dirty and lots of floating debris. I condition my new water and match the temperature. Start up the pump and heater and put the plants, decoration and moss back in. After some time the water clears up. But I would really like to clean the junk out of the tank. What is the best way to clean gravel, remove the debris. I see online how to use a siphon. The problem is my tank is only a 2.5 gallon if I try to siphon method I would run out of water before the gravel would be clean. I purchased this vacuum and it was a waist of money. It would not even bring any water up to filter bag.

I can understand your frustration when I look at the siphon you purchased.
Do you go to youtube? I use a siphon I found there and other methods too.
I use an airline tube for some things but wouldn't for tank cleaning. IMO - it's good for certain things but would be way too slow/tedious for debris removal.
Going to find the video of a DIY debris siphon I use & post asap.

 

You take your siphon and start pumping the water through the siphon sucking up debris like normal but instead of changing any water by putting what comes out in a bucket you take a filter cartridge or media and put it on the end of the siphon that would normally be pushing the water into the bucket but Instead of pushing the water back into the bucket you push the water back into the tank. This effectively removes floating debris.

 

You take your siphon and start pumping the water through the siphon sucking up debris like normal but instead of changing any water by putting what comes out in a bucket you take a filter cartridge or media and put it on the end of the siphon that would normally be pushing the water into the bucket but Instead of pushing the water back into the bucket you push the water back into the tank. This effectively removes floating debris.

Jake I hope you won't think I'm being a jerk - but ...
You explained it by using the same description in the first post.
You know what you're talking about and if I don't then that's my problem.
Thanks for replying to me. Sincerely, BD

 

No problem I totally understand. This file is The siphon I use. You use the bulb to push the water from the tank to a bucket.

 

No problem I totally understand. This file is The siphon I use. You use the bulb to push the water from the tank to a bucket.

That's the same one I use. I have an in-line shut off valve too. You? Really useful for a number of reasons.

 

Ya I usually just siphon my dirty water into a bucket and dump it out but for small tanks you can’t siphon something out the tank is too small so I would just pump the water back into the tank but put something on the outflow to filter out the debris I continue this cycle until eventually all the debris end up In the filter cartridge and the water goes back into the tank without the debris. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense. I don’t know how else to explain it. I don’t have one with a shut off valve I usually just take the siphon from the water and dump the remaining water back into the tank.

 

I use the filter method you describe with good results but not on the end of a siphon.
I'd like to ask how you can "push the water back into your tank"? I didn't think you could siphon from 1 tank while it runs into the same tank.
I'm missing something there.
Thanks


I can understand your frustration when I look at the siphon you purchased.
Do you go to youtube? I use a siphon I found there and other methods too.
I use an airline tube for some things but wouldn't for tank cleaning. IMO - it's good for certain things but would be way too slow/tedious for debris removal.
Going to find the video of a DIY debris siphon I use & post asap.

I change to sand on Wed and will keep to my Sunday water testing and changes, so this afternoon. I will try a homemade siphon made from an airline and a pipette. It will be slow but my tank is only 2.5 gallon so pretty small. I will post the results