Cleaning

[nattybrack]

Jeez, I feel a little silly asking this question but I have a feeling I am cleaning my 55gal incorrectly. I am removing all the rocks and plants before I clean the gravel. Is this correct? Tank looks good and fish seem happy, but if I'm trying to get 2 fish to mate is this the right thing to do?

[125gJoe]

I think you might be over-doing it. Try not to disturb much while vacuuming the gravel. When doing a major clean-up, then remove most of the rocks and plants... hth...

[ScottoMacD]

You might want to try it this way.

I do my 20% water change every week like this.

I divide the tank into 4 sections. Two front and two back.

One week I clean front right and left back.
The next week I clean front left and back right.
etc....

Then once a month I lift out the plants and caves etc and do a full 50% cleaning of the whole tank. Works like a charm for me.

[nattybrack]

Both sound like good techniques, thank you.
80galJoe how often do you do a major clean up? also once a month?
and
if I'm doing 10% water changes every week, should I up that to 20%?

[125gJoe]

Yes, about once a month, but I don't remove all the plants, I do prune them ocassionally, and take the driftwood out and vacuum. Water changes are weekly... :)

[ScottoMacD]

Just to clarify.

I have no live plants in my cichlid tanks. They are all silk plants. That is why I remove them.

The live ones just don't last with my pigs.

[nattybrack]

I'm not sure my 55gal could be broken up into 4 quadrants (it's not that wide), so here's my plan:

Weekly - 1/2 of the tank - 20% water change. I will not pull the plants or rocks.

Monthly - Whole tank - 50% water change. I will pull all the plants and rocks.

Does this sound right???

I don't have any live plants (only plastic, although silk sounds pretty good)

What are your thoughts about rearranging the tank, is it OK to do more than the once a month?

[JSchmidt]

With my cichlid tanks, I rarely break them down completely for cleaning. I do as much gravel vacuuming as I can every water change, but I infrequently take out everything. Cleaning gravel (I assume we're talking about using a gravel vac or Python) can't be done too much, especially with messy fish like cichlids. (We're talking about non-planted tanks; the same isn't true for planted tanks.)

All the good stuff - the bacteria that oxidize ammonia/nitrite - are firmly attached, so a good gravel vacuuming won't dislodge them. It will, however, remove a lot of poop and uneaten food before it has a chance to break down and contribute pollutants to your water.

If removing everything makes it easier to vac, that's fine, but it is not necessary from a cleanliness standpoint to do all that.

HTH,
Jim

[nattybrack]

Thanks for the clarification. I'll try a once a week non removal and a monthly removal. Upping my weekly to 20%, and gravel vacc'ing around the plants/rocks.

Appreciate all the comments and info. :D