My fishtank holds ten gallons of water and i have three fish and a frog currently in the tank. I have some dirty gravel. How do i clean the gravel and what do i need to take out of the tank in order to clean the gravel?
* I would like not to use a gravel vaccum (if possible)*
Answers:
Like everyone else has said, a gravel vacuum is the easiest way, BUT...you could alway buy an under gravel filter if you don't already have one. They don't cost much at all and if you don't put a ton of gravel on top, your gravel will stay a lot cleaner.
It works by sitting on the bottom of the bare tank and your gravel sits on top of the under gravel filter. The filter has slots in it and it allows water to flow underneath the gravel to help keep the tank clean. You can buy them at Walmart and I bet they are not more than ten bucks or so. You might have to buy a powerhead or two to run the filter if you don't already use that type of pump. They don't cost much either.
Check Walmart or Ebay for both the undergravel filter and the powerheads(pumps). Some people use only one powerhead and plug the other hole in the undergravel filter. Good luck!
Gravel Vac, remove about 20% of the water, 2 gallons. There is no other way. What are your issues with gravel vacs?
Oww.
I know how you feel.
We have gravel in our turtle cage.
We just keep washing it over %26 over in clean water and when it comes time, we get new gravel.
When i used to have a huge tank, i would use those sand box toy shovels to scoop out the gravel. It's time consuming but my tanks gravel didnt get dirty so much. I normally wash it a bucket with hot water. You dont need much to wash it, if you prefer you can use warm water so you can move the gravel around. Hot water doesnt affect me much.
clean the WHOLE tank. when you take out the gravel scrub it between your hands until its cleaned
Vaccuming the gravel is a part of fishkeeping. The only other way is to take the fish and everything out of the tank, empty it, clean the gravel through a strainer, put it all back together, aerate the new water, add the fish again, and hope you haven't messed things up. It not only risks a depletion of bacteria in the tank, but causes the fish much stress.
I don't see why you don't want to use a vacuum, it's the easiest method. While you do your regular weekly or bi-weekly water change you just poke it around and suck up what you can until you've removed enough water.
Well there is one thing u could do. Buy a new gallons for the fish and for the frog as well that if one of them is clean then put the fish and frog on clean one and clean the old one and put fresh water in again. Then u could close the lid and keep it to put the fish and frog that u could clean the gallon and that way it could be good for u and keep u busy as well. Good luck.
Clean The whole Tank And put new gravel in
You would have to use a gravel vaccum because you should never just take the rocks out. This can take away the natural bacteria in the water that the fish need to live. If you use the gravel vac- only take out 1/3 of the water. Fish are very sensitive to change.
I mean the best way, would be to get a gravel vacuum. Sorry.
Gravel Vac is the best way...
take the fish (if you have fish)or the animals out os the tank and clean the garvel with wter (dont use soap)clan the water too place the gravel in a a bowl with smal holes and wash the gravel it takes time but its worth it!! hope u take my idea and for bubles !she dosent wana use a vacum!!
DRAINER
Well when I clean my tank I take out all the gravel and put it in one of those spagetti strainers and run water through it and work it with my hands. After doing this for a while all I do is put it back int he tanka nd put the water back in. PS While doing this make sure to put your fish in a bowl. Hope I helped!
You siphon the stuff out. Don't take any thing out,replace the 25% of the water that you siphon out with clean, treated,(dechlorinated) water that is the same temperature as the tank. Any other method will kill the bacteria that keep your fish alive.
Ghapy hit the nail on the head
why dont you get yourself an undergravel filter, thus it will suck all the muck down to the bottom of the tank out of sight, but to keep the gravel clean take the fish out and the frog and wash the stones thouroughly with hot water but dont wash it in the tank, and don't use metal when washing them
Just wanted to point out ..cleaning the entire tank..BAD IDEA.. You never want to do more than a 20% water change in an established tank if you can avoid it. More than that will disturb the biological filter and cause your tank to cycle again, which in turn may well kill all your fish. I don't know why you are hesitant to use a gravel cleaner but they are by far the best way to go. Just remember to only clean about half way down into the gravel to leave a bit of the bio-filter bed undisturbed.
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