Fish Tank advice needed?

Question

Hi, I have a 60 litre (13 gallon) Tropical fish tank. I have not been doing my weekly water changes and for some reason the water pump/filter I think has stopped working. I am starting fresh. I am keeping he same fish but re-cleaning my whole entire tank. muck on gravel poo and everything, its so green you cant even see in it.

What would be my best way going about this?

Thanks.

If you have any of your fish tank pictures, I would love to see them so I get a good idea of what to do, thanks.

Answer 1

If you do that you will have to re-cycle the tank and it will stress the fish out A LOT! I say, take the gravel out, DO NOT WASH IT and put and under gravel filter in, or get a siphon and wile doing a water change(The siphon takes water out of the tank as well) be cleaning the gravel, the siphon will suck up some gravel and drop the gravel...but take the c**p out of it. Then go buy a new filter and pump. Then take out all the decorations and scrub them down. And last, scrub the glass of as best you can. See, you can do all of this without starting the tank over!  

Answer 2

How are your fish alive in that mess???

You normally shouldn't do a complete cleaning, but you pretty much have to in this case.  First, dump the water into a bucket and place your filter media into the water.  This will keep the bacteria that are on the media alive and healthy while you scrub down.  Then take another bucket (or two if necessary) and put your fish inside with a bubbler. Then just use hot water and clean everything.  If the filter is clogged, what you can do is save some gravel in the bucket, and then when you buy a new filter, place the gravel inside the filter to start a new bacteria colony.  Then, once the tank is clean, refilled, and back up to normal temperature, acclimate the fish the way you did when you bought them.  For the next two-three weeks you should do 25% water changes diligently at least every 2 days in order to keep a healthy bacteria count and a low ammonia count.  Test your water at least once a day, twice preferably, to make sure your water is within normal levels.

Once there is no ammonia in your system (probably after 3 weeks), you can return to weekly water changes.

Answer 3

Don't change all the water, else your fish will all die!! you should be changing about 20% of the water every week... and when you do the change add a dose of aqua plus, and aqua cycle! The aqua plus will keep your fish healthy! And the aqua cycle will keep your nitrate and ammonia levels set!! You should change the sponges in your filter every month and then you'll see how good they are in cleaning all the muck!! if they work right then the sponges will usually be black! You should also get a gravel cleaner so there will not be any left-over food stuck at the bottom causing debris!!

This is what i do to keep my fish healthy...

Every day ..check temperatures right, make sure there is no change in fish behavior and that they have no sign of illness!

Every other day... feed

Every sunday... 20% water change, doses of aqua plus and aqua cycle, clean the gravel with gravel cleaner!

Every month... clean filters!

Good luck with your tank, and i hope my advice will help!!

Answer 4

If you do use under gravel filtration use the reversre flow method that is that the return water goes in under the gravel and easier to keep clean with REGULAR maintenance

Answer 5

this happens to most fish tanks

Answer 6

hello i am a fish expert.  DO NOT O A FULL WATER CHANGE! YOU WILL GET 'NEW TANK SYNDROME' just keep changin 20% of the tank water every week and it will be ok, ur pump is just blocked turn it off take it out and clean the thing, email me for picture of my tanks

Answer 7

buy some bottom feeders,loach,catfish etc,you dont need to change you water every week,just top up as water goes down,buy plants like jave   fern.they will flourish,do not feed you fish every day,they will live off the algae and help clean your tank.

Answer 8

Don't do a full water change! My friend did this, and all her fish died from ammonia poisoning! You can do this if you have another tank to put the fish in, so you can cycle the other one for a week or more. (Depending on what kind of filter you have)

http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles...

But now that you learned your lesson, hopefully you'll be doing those weekly water changes! =)

Here's what a healthy tank should look like: (These are my tanks, sorry the videos are a bit fuzzy looking...)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXmknxl4f...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=luzA2OZgfD...

Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!

(EDIT) And I don't do weekly water changes, and my tank is fine! I do like, monthly water changes and I did a water test. My water is perfect, my guppies are healthy, and my water is crystal clear!

What kind of filter do you have?