Cleaning once a month?

[beautifulfish]

I clean my 29 gallon tank once a month. I have a 40 gallon filter. I have 1 blue gourami, 2 mickey mouse platys, and 2 female mollies. Am I cleaning it not enough? When I had a red tailed black shark it stayed cleaner much longer. Do I need to clean it more often??

 

[cyberbeer65]

I would clean it bi-weekly.

 

[FisheyLisa]

IT is ultimately up to you, but most clean 1 a week. I do every 1-2 weeks providing there isn't anything toxic in the tank like ammonia etc.. I have a planted 30 with a whisper 30/60 g filter. I think our bio load would work out about the same as well. A water change each time. then one of the following:
clean decorations/glass
clean filter media
super vacuum gravel/ aerate gravel (as opposed to the glazing over I do normally)

I think that a water change every 2 is the longest I'd ever hold out. I start getting nervous about the components of fish excretion building up, on top of what I think is already high iron in my tap, and what ever else is inthe tap with my old plumbing. I tend to get algae the longer I wait, also related to the iron. I also feel like the fish appreciate fresh water every week- it's like fresh air.

Mollies are big poopers, which maybe why there is more to clean. did the shark stay at the bottom? maybe losing a bottom feeder, lost a poo-stirrer and it doesn't get to the filter as well now.

 

[beautifulfish]

When I clean out my tank once a month there is no green on anything. My shark came up from time to time but mostly stayed in the big rock.

 

[LongTime]

When I clean out my tank once a month there is no green on anything. My shark came up from time to time but mostly stayed in the big rock.

What do you mean by "clean out"?

 

[beautifulfish]

I use my gravel vacuum to take out 15% of the water and to clean the gravel, wipe off the glass and decorations.

 

[Holly9937]

Only changing 15 % of the water once a month is asking for trouble IMO!!! I would do that at weekly, and up the water change to 20-25%. Many of the people on here who have successfully kept fish for many years will recommend 50% WEEKLY

 

[FisheyLisa]

I have read that anything below 20% is a waste of time, and I agree, though I haven't done the math to figure this without a doubt, or tested it in my tanks.

You could run an experiment with water having ammonia, test the levels, remove 15% of the water, and retest to see the significance.

 

[zazz]

I vaccuum the tank and change water ( about 50%) once a week. I wipe of the filter intakes if i cant vaccuum them clean and rinse out the filter media in tank water.
You shouldn't see any ammonia in an established tank, but you can measure nitrates, which I bet you will find to be high. Also, there are many things that you can not see And can not measure that will accumulate in your water and be unhealthy for the fish. I strongly recomend changing more water. (maybe 25%/week? 50%every other week? test it and see)
Its great that you have plenty of filter, but there are still things that a filter cant remove.
I never wpe my glass off and in most of my tanks dont have algae growing on it. For decorations I have rocks and driftwood, and i don't mind some green on them.
I wonder though....Since once a month wiping is enough for you to keep 'green' away, that's not what I'd call much algae at all.
If you changed more water more often, you might find less green... You would be removing a lot of the nutrients that the green needs in order to grow. Also reducing the amount of time the lights are on. No harm in 'wiping' I suppose, I just like to muck around in the tank as minimally as possible.
A live plant might help too.

 

[cohazard]

When it comes to weekly aquarium maintenance, I do 50% water changes (even on my 180........God bless Lee's Ultimate Gravel Vaccum).

I typically vaccum the gravel during water changes, but if I'm feeling lazy, I'll do it bi weekly.

The filter maintenance is done on a monthly basis. I rinse the biomax in tank water then let it sit in the tank while I rinse out the sponges under tap water and rinse out the interior of the filters.