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Hello there.... Please I need some help on Ideas on how to do a complete tank clean up...
I have 4ft tank which has been running for a year now, I have never had a tank bigger or as big than this Before... currently it houses 4 juvenile Severums, 1 sailfin pleco, 1 pictus catfish and 1 bumble bee catfish.
Now I want to do a good clean of the substrate how much water should i throw out so it does not stress my fish and shall I also replace all my filter media (I have two internal filters)... I have spare 2ft tank so i can transfer the fish in here whilst i clean the tank... How long do i have to wait after the clean is done to put my fish back....
any help will be appreciated thanks

hi and welcome to FP

You dont need to do a complete clean of the tank unless all your fish have died of an infectious disease. Buy a gravel vac, like this one http://www.petco.com/familylisting.asp?family_id=5913&cm_ven=nik&cm_cat=82&cm_pla=fm1083811556&cm_ite=2542620&CMReferringUrl=uk.search.yahoo.com/search/ukie?p=gravel+vacuum&y=i&ei=ISO-8859-1&fr=fp-tab-web-t&cop=mss&tab=

to clean the substrate.

You should be changing about 20%of the water every 2 weeks. You should probably also change 1/2 your filter media.

Dont take the fish out the tank, it will just get them more stressed.

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

If you have been doing weekly water changes;filter maint; vaccuming, cleaning the glass and ornaments as needed; and your water parameters are good, your doing great no need to do anything else.

Thank You for your responses... I have been doing weekly water changes of 30%(my severums are really messy) water parameter are ok! I've heard that you should do a complete clean once a year or so, but the tank is going well....

Hi,
I cannot immagine anyone advising someone to tear
a perfectly good tank apart at any kind of an interval.

Your tank is established, working fine, and belive me,
if it ain't broke - don't fix it!

Once a month, perhaps twice a month with those fish,
when you do your weekly water changes use something
like the python, and vacuum your gravel, 1/4 to a max
of 1/3 of the tank at a time.
By only doing a part of the tank, starting at one side
and progressing to the other with at some interval,
you give the bacterial colonies time to regroup before
you disrupt another section. Inbetween these gravel
cleaning sessions, use the Python or something similiar
but don't dig into the gravel, just skim the surface
of the gravel picking up the fish poop and other
detritus.

This way the entire tank is cleaned at some interval,
with minimum disruption.

Frank



[span class="edited"][Edited by FRANK 2004-08-01 10:10][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by FRANK 2004-08-01 10:12][/span]

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thank you all... I guess i will leave things they way they are.... Do what i do regularly

I agree with Frank. The python is the way to go in vacuuming tank. I have 55 gl. tank and a pond out back and it makes for easy cleaning. I was put at the price but got largest one they had and I'm glad that I did.
Just vacuum and use scot-brite pad and sponge to clean inside of tank. You will never need to do a complete over haul of tank.

When my dad first started keeping fish, he would rip the tank down, and clean it all up.

His fish never lasted long.

When he set the aquarium up at this house, he never did that, just did a gravel vac every other week, changing 25% of the water.

The first fish we put in here was a pleco, and 2 corys, they are still alive today (about 15 years old) we have clown loaches, kuhli loaches, and alot of other corys that are about 14 years old.

I would strongly advose NOT cleaning your tank yearly, and just do gravel vacs every week, or every other week (with your water change)

oh yea, if i were you, i would go out and buy a python. My dad said he would pay $100 for one if he knew it would be this great.

They are about $30 and runs by your sink, not your mouth, also, it cleans the gravel 2 times better than a regular gravel vac (i have one, and it was a pain trying to clean my 10 gallon with it.