When do I clean the gravel?

[Anne L.]

I have a question about when and how much of the aquarium gravel I should clean.

I did my first water change last weekend of about 15%. I did not clean the gravel this time, and just dipped out the water with a clean glass. I added fresh conditioned water from the tap, with some warmed up water added to match temperature that I heated on the stove. I mixed this all in my aquarium bucket.

I'm not sure when I should clean the gravel with the gravel siphon, and how much of the gravel should I clean - I know you're not supposed to do it all.

And, do you have to do a water change every week, or can it wait for 2 weeks? The tank water and gravel look very clean.

Oh, one more question, when should I clean the filter? The water flow has not decreased like the instructions say, and it's a replaceable carbon filter. I think I'll be replacing this with an aquaclear sponge cut to fit as was suggested in another thread.

Sorry for all the questions, but things are going really well with my new fish and I want to keep it that way.

[OrionGirl]

I clean the substrate with each water change (weekly, for me). For my planted tanks, I just siphon the waste off the top--if using a UGF, the full thing should be cleaned, top to bottom, as best you can, each time. Otherwise, the waste will accumulate underneath and be hard to remove. There's not reason why you can't clean all of it each time--though this sometimes results in larger volumes of water being removed than really required. As always, though--more clean water won't hurt the fish.

You can do water changes as often as you want--unplanted tanks should be monitored for nitrates, and changes done to keep nitrates low (under 20 is best, but difficult in some tanks). For planted tanks--the goal is stability, so change water as often as needed to keep the water chemistry from altering (for example, keep KH high enough to prevent pH swings). This may means weekly, or less often. I prefer to pick a schedule and stick with it--which is why I do changes on all my tanks each week. One tank used to require them that often, and now it's just habit.

For the filter--I clean my filters out with each water change. It's not hard, and it can head off a problem by removing potential ammonia sources. IMO, by the time the flow decreases, there's too much potential for a problem.

[Anne L.]

Thanks, OrionGirl. I have a HOB filter, and silk plants.

I'll give the filter siphon a shot this week and see what happens. I'm not exactly sure how this thing is supposed to work, but I'll let my husband figure that out. I already do everything else with the fish; it's his turn to help.

I'll rinse out the filter bag in the tank water and stick it back in until I get a chance to get an aquaclear foam in there. I'm busy with kids' birthday parties, swimming and skating lessons this weekend, so my days are pretty full.

[fishfood]

I also do a weekly water change. I vacuum 50% of the substrate each time. For example, this week I will vacumm the left side of the tank and next week do the right side.

The reason for this is 1) I can throughly clean the substrate without removing too much water at once (I aim for a 10 - 15% water change).
2) It gives the fish an opportunity to hide on one side of the tank and not get too stressed out.

For my 10 gal, I just do the whole thing since it's so small.

[lostris]

I vacum the gravel weekly as well with my water change, however I dont like to clean the filter on the same day, for ex i'll do d water change on sunday and then on wednesday i'll clean the filter.

[bayoupr]

Like most people here I vac my gravel weekly with my water change. I clean my sponge filters once a month but not on the same day as my water change.

[aquariumfishguy]

I look at vacuuming as killing two birds with one stone. You can really clean your aquarium while doing a water change, so why not? ;)