Cleaning Gravel

T

Trubador

AC Members
Aug 28, 2007
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I have a 2.5 gallon minibow and have an inch and a half of medium gravel on the bottom.

Does this need to be cleaned once in a while? I look at it and I don't see any extra dirt/debris particles on the gravel. I have only one betta in the tank.

If it does need to be cleaned, how do I do so? I am not going to spend 50 or 100 dollars on one of those gravel vacuums I see. Those are for larger tanks I imagine.

Is there a product for gravel cleaning in a small tank such as mine?
 
Yes, you should definatly clean it once in a while. Especially since it is such a small tank, the water composition is affected very easily. If your careful as to how much you feed your betta and make sure that you do weekly water changes then you can probably get by not doing tank cleanings very often. I do mine about once every two weeks. Some people here who have planted tanks don't do them at all.

As for $50 and $100, I think your looking at the Python systems, which you have no need for.

You can get a vacuum made specifically for desk tanks that are about $6 max.
 
JoeLaX28 said:
Yes, you should definatly clean it once in a while. Especially since it is such a small tank, the water composition is affected very easily. If your careful as to how much you feed your betta and make sure that you do weekly water changes then you can probably get by not doing tank cleanings very often. I do mine about once every two weeks. Some people here who have planted tanks don't do them at all.

As for $50 and $100, I think your looking at the Python systems, which you have no need for.

You can get a vacuum made specifically for desk tanks that are about $6 max.
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yes, a vacuum like that 6 to 10 bucks is more like it. I'll have to take a look at my local fish place, but mostly what i saw were the expensive ones.
 
Although now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know how much vacuuming you can actually do in a 2.5 gallon haha. If I were you, I'd just put a small plant in there and be done with it.
 
JoeLaX28 said:
Although now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know how much vacuuming you can actually do in a 2.5 gallon haha. If I were you, I'd just put a small plant in there and be done with it.
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A possibility, yes. But what I am struggling with is that I can't see anything building up in the gravel. I've only had the tank two months. There is absolutely no algae, gunk, etc...anywhere in the tank, the water is crystal clear, etc....

But I have to imagine at some point, gunk, debris, whatever will get onto the gravel? How would a plant remove debris in the gravel?
 
You won't see it because it sinks between the gravel, and it will influence the water quality...
I think you could get by by stirring the gravel with your hand once a week and then immediately doing a big water change (like 75% of the water). This is how a friend of mine keeps her two gallon betta tank clean and it works.

L.
 
i would personally remove some of the gravel. keeping enough to cover the bottom will allow the tank to look nice, but will make it easier for the filter (you have a filter, right?) to catch any debris. the deeper the gravel is, the more of a crap-trap it will be. you would be amazed at how much stuff can hide in gravel that looks perfectly clean.
 
I had my betta in a 5 gallon with a filter and some gravel. Bigger tanks are easier to clean if there's gravel in my opinion. You won't realize how much dirt is in the gravel until you see it come through the vaccum. Also, rinse out the sponge in you filter when you clean the tank (squeeze it out in your pail of dirty water). There's an excellent site all about bettas, can't recall the name of it. Google betta sites.
 
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