How to properly clean your aquarium.

So you have noticed your tank is a little...nasty and dirty.

First thing you will think is to completely tear down the tank and sterilize everything, WAIT, this isn‘t what you really want to do. If you do so you will more than likely loose all the “Good” bacteria you worked so hard to get while cycling your tank (If you cycled your tank) You may want to fully clean your tank if it is just really inhabitable for your fish and your tank cycle is very bad anyway.

Aquarium

For algae growth on the sides:
There are many “scrubbers” made for cleaning algae off the glass of a tank. Some times you can use a razor and scrape if the algae is really bad if it isn’t you can find magnetic algae sponges or some with a handle you should be able to find one of these at a local pet supply store. If you have a acrylic tank be sure to be very careful when scraping the sides and never use a metal razor on acrylic since it can scratch it very easily. Some algae scrubbers can scratch acrylic as well so be sure to find the softest scrubber that you can on an acrylic tank.

Plants and Décor:
If you choose you can remove these and wipe them down well in warm water (NO SOAPS) If you use soap there could still be some on your plants/décor that you can not see which can be harmful for your fish and aquatic pets. (imagine living and breathing in a bath tub) A good scrub with an algae pad and warm/hot water should be good enough. If you don’t want to work this hard and choose to cheat and use soap you probably shouldn’t have fish and/or aquatic pets. If you are having trouble removing any algae you can soak your plants and décor, just be sure to soak them in a bucket that has never been used for cleaning. A few brand new buckets would be helpful. Place your plants and décor in the bucket and let them soak for a little while you should be able to scrub off the algae then.

Rocks/Gravel in general:
A good gravel vac will be needed for this. Get your other bucket and start vacuuming your gravel/rocks. I stir up my rocks some to help get little particles that are deep under the rocks. If you don’t have a gravel vac there is a small solution but sometimes this makes a bigger mess than its worth you can stir up your rocks and wave a fine net around and get some of the larger particles in the tank. Any particles that you can not get with a net you will want to let settle before placing everything back in the tank.

Rocks/Gravel with heavy algae:
Get your “fish bucket-bucket only used for fish and nothing else” and a cup and scoop out your rocks. Under warm water and (I use a noodle strainer specifically for fish) place a few rocks in it and start scrubbing them as they are cleaned up a bit (you might not ever get 100% of the algae off of gravels) place them back in the tank. Remember NO soaps.

Hardware:

Tank hood:
There are aquarium specific cleaners you can buy from your local pet supply store for cleaning off the hood of your tank. I just use aquarium specific cleaner with a paper towel and a warm water rinse.

Filter:
Some say its best not to change the filter for about a week after the cleaning. The cleaning though not 100% could cause changes in your cycled tank and your old filter will help balance your cycle once again. If your filter is very bad you can replace it but usually a rinse is good. Personally I rinse mine and soak it in 1 gal of water w/ 1 table spoon of dissolved aquarium salt for about 30min then give it another good rinse.

Your tank should be good as new.


Submitted by Misty's_Fantails