Operation: Clean The Aquarium

hcgirl80

i is a gud righter lyke leela.
Jun 3, 2004
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Well folks, the algae has built up so I can't stand it.

I Am going to:
A. Clean the gravel.
B. Clean the decor.
C. Clean the bubble wand.
D. Clean the plants???

Do you have any tips/suggestions?
If so, then please post them!!

Thanks!!!!!

~Paige
 
How do you plan on doing this cleaning?

For instance, I clean the substrate in my tanks each time I do a water change, by using a siphon. I wouldn't want to pull the gravel out of the tank and rinse it, though, that would be a PITA, and I'd lose more than I'd gain. I clean the glass off maybe once every month, but do water changes weekly. I've never worried about the small amount of algae that grows on a few decorations--makes them look natural, and gives the fish something to pick at.
 
Well this algae is rediculous. You can hardly see the decorations. The nitrites are high, That's why I do water changes almost bi-daily. Hopefully the pair of ottos I'm gonna get soon will have a mighty feast...

But the algae is almost everywhere but the walls and the water itself. Yes, that's what it is.
 
Otos won't do well if you have nitrites.

Algae isn't from nitrites--nitrates, maybe, but not nitrites.

How will you clean the decorations?
 
Well I was planning on getting them out and wiping them with an algae sponge, but as my siggy says, I'm just a newbie.
 
For plastic plants and rock work, that's fine. For wood, you'll need to scrub a bit more--it grows into the wood, and simply removing the exterior growth sometimes doesn't make it go away for long. Sometimes bleaching the wood will work--but not always. If bleached, make sure to dechlorinate well.

I wouldn't remove the gravel--just use the siphon tube to pull up any solid wastes for it.

When cleaning the glass, make sure you either siphon up the cleared algae, or have it sucked into the filter that can then be cleaned out. If it's left to float around the tank, it will happily attach and start growing where it settles.

If you have live plants, some can be cleaned by dipping them in a bleach solution--there's a sticky posted in the Planted forum that details how to do this.

Keep in mind that doing this all at once will kill a significant amount of the bacteria that you want to keep. I'd spread it out over a few weeks.
 
Well I don't have any plastic plants, I like live plants better. And I don't have any wood either.

Yea, I'll use the siphon vacuum to clean the gravel.

-There's no algae on the glass.-

What you said about spreading it out--TONIGHT'S MISTER TURTLE!
 
Shouldn't be that bad...

The algae shouldn't be that bad. Might be too much food in the tank, too much ammonia.

Let's start at the begining.

How big is this tank? when was it started? how many fishand how large? how often and how much do you feed? lighting type and hours? how often and how much changed water?

All water parameters you have, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.


Meanwhile, you can use a credit card to scrape off the glass. Then use some 1/2" clear tubing from the hardware store and a bucket to siphon the algae off the gravel when it has settled. Be sure the tubing is long enough to stay in the bucket as you move around, work barefoot so you know if you spill. Suck on the end of the tube just to get water over the rim of the tank then it will flow down ward as long as you don't get any air in the line. Plastic plants can be scrubbed with fingers or a new toothbrush and left in the sun outside. Rocks and decorations too.
 
Tank size: 10 gallons
Fish: 1 Tiger Barb, 1.5"
Running Time Of Tank: 4 weeks
With fish: 3 weeks
Light: Flourescent
Light Hours: 10-11

I feed about 1-2 flakes and 2-3 bloodworms once a day

Water change: 1 1/2 gallons 3 times a week

pH: 7.2
Nitrite: 2.0:eek:
Nitrate: 60
Ammonia: 0 ppm

Once again, there is NO ALGAE ON THE WALLS.
 
Focus on getting the nitrites down, and then the nitrates should follow. Both are out of the safe range, especially those nitrites. :eek:

Otos are (as someone else mentioned) very sensitive fish. It doesn't take much to put them over the edge. I wouldn't add any, not while you are still cycling.
 
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