Emptying the tank for thorough cleaning

[shakone2001]

I have been cleaning my 45 gallon tank every so often by removing half the water. The shells that I have at the bottom are quite dirty now and i would like to clean the entire tank. Should I empty out the whole tank to remove old shells or should i remove half the water and take out the old shells so I can add new ones?

 

[b_ball12_99]

Welcome to the board! They will just get dirty again. Are you still in te cycle? If so stop all water changes. A clean up crew is what you really need.

 

[shakone2001]

so is your advice to do a massive cleanup and empty and clean the entire tank so that we can add new shells? We are doing the tank cleaning like every 2 weeks -emptying 20 gallons and adding clean water. Just want to know the opinions on tank clean up.
thanks

 

[mr . salty]

This type of cleaning will actually cause more harm than good.Your tank needs to set up an established bio system.Part of this envolves the breaking down of the waste that you are cleaning out every other week. How old is this tank?? What are the water readings??? Has this tank cycled???Although an established tank does look clean,it is in no way a steril enviroment.Over cleaning,and constantly "playing"with the setup will eventually cause major problems including a total system crash...
[ June 05, 2001: Message edited by: MR . SALTY ]

 

[janice]

20 gallons out of 45 every two weeks??? Isn't that way too much? Everything I've read has said 20% every two weeks, so about half that much. But hey, I'm no expert. Also, I guess I don't know what you mean about replacing shells - is that your substrate? Do you use a siphon to clean the substrate when you're replacing water? There's good stuff living in there so I'd be careful about replacing it just cause it looks dirty. Get a cleanup crew package like they show on this website.

 

[b_ball12_99]

Salty knows what I was getting at. Have you cycled or is that going on now? Is the "dirt" like a brown algea?

 

[sketty00]

I miss spoke about the cleaning...its about 5 gallons every 2 weeks ..sometimes ten. the shells have sort brown/green algae on them. If Mr. Salty says that it can screw up the ecosystem to replace shells ...that makes a whole lotta since. I know that these fish are use to a certain amount of healthy bacteria.
We have had the tank for about 4 months. It probaly is way too soon for anything drastic.
Is there any advice for cleaning the algae or preventing from forming on the shells?

 

[dugan]

Don't try to clean off the algae, instead get some 'janitors' that will do the cleaning for you.

Katie