How do you clean the gravel at the bottom of a fish tank?
by Aquaboy on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 | 9 Comments
I’ll be having to clean my new fish tank by this weekend. And I need to know if there is a method for cleaning the gravel rock stuff you put at the bottom of the tank? Or do you just rinse it out?
I tried to Google it but I didn’t really find anything.
Anyone know?
AND WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE A GRAVEL VACUUM OR THE MONEY FOR ONE?
You use a gravel vacuum. There are ones for smaller tanks and ones for larger tanks. For smaller tanks (20 gallons and smaller) they make ones based on suctions. Larger tanks use a battery.
Get a 4L water container. Cut a little piece out of it and deposit a portion of gravel. Then, put water in container and make rocks rub together with your hands. Empty water, repeat a few times until water is clean after you shake everything up. Dump those rocks in the tank and start off with a new portion of rocks.
what you do is you take the net you use for moving the fish out of the tank and move them into a clean trash can that you find in your room or something. Just any old bucket
then you remove all the water first and pour it out into the bath tub
using the fishing net, pick up all the gravel at the bottom of the tank and put it in a bucket.
bring the bucket into the bathrom and empty it into a strainer if you have one
just pour water over the strainer and move the gravel around everywhere
if you dont have a strainer just fill the bucket with the gravel with water and move it around, then pour all the water out of the bucket.
after cleaning the gravel a couple times, you can put it back in the tank
and restore the water
then move the fish and add the chemicals
I suggest you give the fish some stress coat before and after you move them and clean the tank when its empty of gravel and water 2
Do you have 6-7 bucks? If so, than you have money for a gravel siphon.
Using a gravel siphon is the perfect method to clean your gravel. It removes any loose debris and helps to maintain a healthy tank. While vacuuming the substrate remove 25% of the water.
-Completely disregard Chu. Do not perform a complete water change and do not remove the fish from the tank. It’s unnecessarily stressful for the fish.
Empty all the water out of the tank,take the gravel out and put in a colander and rinse it out or rub it between your hands to loosen any dirt and rinse.Clean tank,add gravel and water.
try and scoop all the gravel into a bucket or something a bit at a time, depenidng on how big your tank is, and put water in that bucket and keep shaking it around in the bucket, and swir;ling the water, flippin the gravel in the bucket
then pour out that water and rinse again and clean gravel
if u dont have the money or a vac just take all the rocks and put them in a pasta strainer, rinse them under burning hot water and swishem around, then rinse the tank and dumpem back in. im assuming there are no fish in your tank, if there are, remove the fish and put them in large bowls of their own tanks water not fresh water while cleaning the rocks.
DONT USE SOAP ON ANYTHING.
good luck <3
Listen to Sibyl. And me
Do NOT remove all your water and do NOT take out your gravel and rinse it with hot water. This will kill all the beneficial bacteria in your tank and you will have to re-cycle.
You need to buy a gravel vacuum. They are only a couple of bucks at a pet store. If you don’t have the money for one, then save up because it’s really the only way to do it. You want to siphon out about 25 percent of the water and replace it will dechlorinated tap water that is the same temperature as the water in the tank.
DO NOT REMOVE YOUR GRAVEL OUT OF YOUR TANK AND DO NOT REMOVE ALL THE WATER. A siphon (gravel vac) doesn’t cost that much, or you can make your own. If you remove all gravel from tank and wash it you will get rid of all beneficial bacteria and you might have an ammonia spike which could kill your fish. Ask you parents for $10 and go get a gravel siphon/vacuum…
or get a clear tube from hardware store a couple of feet long and 1/2′ in diameter, depends on the size of your tank and gravel size, it could get the job done until you get the money to buy one.