How to clean planted tank

[Shaunsvds]

Hi guys, I have a cambomba stem plant on wire gauze all together and some Java fern in my 7gallon tank. However after a week the tank started to become dirty with all the leftover fish food. How do I clean it? Do I restart the aquarium and just clean it by removing all the HELP advanced soil and then put in a new batch of soil? Or?... Please help!

[happydanio123]

Hi there Shaun! You don't have to do that unless the tank is polluted beyond repair. For instance, if there is just a few clumps of leftover food, then you can just use a gravel vacuum to suck up the leftover food. However, if the food is all messed up in the substrate then you may need to do a restart. just two months ago I experienced a major food spill in my 20 litre aquarium where a faulty food timer dumped its entire contents out into my fish tank, polluting the entire water column. Therefore I had to restart the whole aquarium. I feel that prevention is better than cure so next time I suggest you to control your feeding so that it won't result in more problems later on.

[thebaldingaquarist]

yes. controlled feeding prevents alot of problems..

if need be, go get a syringe from pharmacy. those for catheter ones. suck out the food using those.

[Shaunsvds]

Hi Happydanio123! Thanks for your reply! My tank is not really that dirty, but it has traces of food in the soil, which makes it an eyesore Should I use a turkey baster? Yes next time will watch my feeding ,thank you for the advice!

[Shaunsvds]

Hi again Thebaldingaquarist , what do you mean for catheter ones? Thanks!

[kapitan]

I use a hard plastic tube (small) connect to a small rubber hose, those for air.... the plastic tube can be longer than your tank (water) level..... the rubber hose is long enough to lead into a bucket... suck water from end of hose, and with hand holding the plastic tube, I am able to gravity dirt off the bottom, without getting hand wet after the water get flowing...

Hope I describe that clear enough.... picture to describe...

[happydanio123]

Actually, you can also attach the small hose of the gravel vac to a larger garden hose and place the other end into a drainage port in the toilet or somewhere else if your aquarium is very far away from the closest drainage port. Seems silly to break your back while carrying huge amount of water around your house......

[simplicity]

Try to feed them a bit at a time so that you can gauge how much to feed in a day. I never feed until all lost interest in the food.

Having some cherry shrimps help to clean the leftover too. That is provided your fishes are small enough that they do not treat the shrimps as yummy food.

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