Cleaning regimen

C

Cylinder

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May 8, 2007
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Prolific lurker/first-time poster.

I've began reading these fora after making some of the usual first-time purchasing and set-up mistakes (thanks for all the info, BTW) and have a few quick questions.

My tank is a 10 gallon kit bought at a big box chain with hood and filter. I populated it with a 1.5" Black Moor and a 1.5" common goldie. Yes, I realize I will be upgrading tanks very, very soon but such is the cost of uninformed purchases. At any rate, the tank is almost three weeks in to a fishy cycle.

My parameters:
NH3/NH4 - 0.25 ppm
NO3 - ~ 2.0 ppm
NO4 - ~ 20 ppm

I'm guessing that I'm in the later stages of cycling and I'm attributing the ammonia to some pretty severe overfeeding for the first week. I'm changing 25% every 3rd day but even with the frequent vacuuming, I'm still finding significant trash in the gravel. My parameters seem to be heading in the right direction - I was really worried when the daily water changes didn't seem to be helping the initial ammonia spike around days 5-7.

My issue for this thread is establishing an efficient cleaning regimen. I want to keep the little guys happy for my five-year-old girl and the tank attractive for my home. Unfortunately, my little knucklehead cannot help herself from touching and smearing the outside of the glass during her very frequent observing.

Will a very small amount of isopropyl on a lint free cloth harm the joints if used to clean the exterior glass?

Maybe someone would be kind enough to do a quick run-down of the mechanics of their cleaning regimen.
 
is your tank glass or acrylic? We just use a high grade glass cleaner on all of our tanks, glass and acrylic. just be careful not to get any in the tank. I use micro-fiber (sometimes called "magic cloths") cleaning towels to wipe it down. You could spray the cleaner straight on to the cloth to avoid over-spray into the tank.

I'm not all together sure the alcohol won't harm the acrylic finish
 
Glass.

Yea, I want to avoid overspray. So you think ammonia-based glass cleaner would be cool for exterior cleaning? The reason I thought isopropyl was I use it for cleaning electronics very often and know it evaporates very quickly and very cleanly.
 
Yes - we use ammonia based glass cleaner and it works quite well - as I said, to be safe, especially with a little one who will be watching how you do it and perhaps want to "help", I would spray the cleaner on the rag, rather than on the tank, although we frequently spray it directy on the tank, at close range and very carefully, even though our tank is tightly cover in the front and sides. only open space is in the back where the heater cord and filters go in.

Although, since it is glass, alcohol would be an option, but once again, I would excercise caution, making sure none of the product got into the tank.
 
I also use cloths that I purchase at the LFS to clean the insides of the tank. Since I have several algae eaters in my tank, I don't worry about cleaning the back of the tank, and only clean the ends if they are getting grungy, but the front we keep cleaned inside, and the front and sides get cleaned on the outside. One of the magnet type cleaners may be an option for you, but they are relatively expensive to use on small tanks. We only have one on our 55 gal, and bought it because that tank has a reoccuring diatom problem.
 
As a side note, I would step up those water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites less than .25
 
I just use a damp cloth and wipe down the sides...then dry it immediately.

My son turns 5 tomorrow...I understand fingerprints.
 
my three and four year old daughters can't keep their hands off my tanks, i just use windex and a papertowel, sprayed on the paper towel. No problems as of yet.
 
my kids are always touching the glass and faces pressed against it lol kids what can you do lol. I just use normal glass cleaner but I do not spray on the tank I spray it on the paper towel then wipe. Also I would recommend not putting your hands in the tank for awhile and washing your hands really good after.
 
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