OK last night I finally decided that too much junk has accumulated in my tank and I need a thorough cleaning, and since I use UGF that means complete breakdown of my tank. This was the first time I did it and I thought about the process in my mind ahead of time, with the goal being that I don't want to have to re-cycle my tank once the cleaning is done.
I assume most of the beneficial bacteria are going to be in the gravels.
These are the steps I took, and the reason I posted them in details is so may be you can tell me what I could have done to make it faster or better. The whole process took me 4.5 hours, for a 29 gallon tank.
(1) Took out a 10 gallon plastic container and fill with water. Dechlorinate the water.
(2) Remove the plants, driftwoods, coral, rocks one by one, as I remove them I paid close attention to remove any snails on them. This is a tedious process but I managed to eliminate over 100 snails clinging on to leaves, bottom of rocks etc...then I put them one by one into the plastic container. After that I covered it with newspaper. The darkness will encourage the left over snails to come out and I will get them later.
(3) Set up a 5 gallon bucket again and siphon off about 3 gallons off the tank into it, then I add two more gallons of tap water and added conditioner. I began to catch the fish one by one and put them in the bucket.
(4) Disconnect all air hose, pumps etc...to the tank. Remove hood and lights.
(5) I put my hand inside the tank and began to pick up snails on the glass and any other snails on the gravel surface that I can see.
(6) I stire the gravel with my hand vigorously, this turned the water into this "poopy" green color, a lot of "bio" junk, gross actually. I kept stiring until I think all the dirt in the gravel has been stirred out.
(7) I cleaned my hands and went to the kitchen to get a drink, watched TV for 15 minutes while I wait for the junk to settle.
(8) After it settled I could see a 1/2" layer of brown silt on top of gravel. I used a hose to siphon off water from the tank to another bucket, but I am sucking up all the settled junk now. I emptied the bucket into the toilet, then siphon, empty...until the water is so low it's barely above the gravel.
(9) I now move the entire tank into my bathroom sitting on top of the counter top. I half filled another 5 gallon bucket with tap water and added dechlorinator again.
(10) I then filled the sink with tap water, added dechlorinator into the sink.
(11) I took out my three way breeder basket that I had for my mollies. I scooped up enough gravel into it, then lowered it into the sink, I basically used the breeder basket as a collander and rinse the gravel back and forth with the dechlorinater water in the sink. After that I put the cleaned gravel into the 5 gallon bucket of dechlorinated water.
(12) I repeated this until all the gravels are cleaned and rinsed. The bucket now has all the gravel, and my hope was by doing it this way, the beneficial bacteria on the gravel will be perserved - I hope so anyways.
(13) Now I can see the UGFs. I took them out and wipe them down with a rag and rinsed them directly with tap water.
(14) There is now 2 inches of "dark metter" water at the base of the tank. This is bad stuff, the smell is so bad I can only say it's worst than bait smell, my wife walked into the bathroom and said it smelled so bad it triggered her gag reflex. I drained those last inche of water too and wipe the entire inside of the tank down. Cleaned it completely.
(15) Then I added the UGFs back.
(16) Then I added 3 inches of tap water, added dechlorinator to it.
(17) Slowly scooped gravels from the 5 galloon bucket back into the tank, until it's filled with gravel again.
(18) Move the tank from bathroom back out to the living room.
(19) Half fill the tank with conditioned water.
(20) Put the plants and rocks back into the tank one by one, again watching for snails.
(21) Hook up air hose and pump and UGFs.
(22) Fill the rest of the tank.
(23) Let the UGF work for 30 minutes while I mopped up spilled water, cleaned up the bathroom, cleaned the outside of the tank, put everything back...
(24) Add the fish back into the tank one by one.
DONE.
Question - did I do it right? I should not have to cycle the tank again right?
I assume most of the beneficial bacteria are going to be in the gravels.
These are the steps I took, and the reason I posted them in details is so may be you can tell me what I could have done to make it faster or better. The whole process took me 4.5 hours, for a 29 gallon tank.
(1) Took out a 10 gallon plastic container and fill with water. Dechlorinate the water.
(2) Remove the plants, driftwoods, coral, rocks one by one, as I remove them I paid close attention to remove any snails on them. This is a tedious process but I managed to eliminate over 100 snails clinging on to leaves, bottom of rocks etc...then I put them one by one into the plastic container. After that I covered it with newspaper. The darkness will encourage the left over snails to come out and I will get them later.
(3) Set up a 5 gallon bucket again and siphon off about 3 gallons off the tank into it, then I add two more gallons of tap water and added conditioner. I began to catch the fish one by one and put them in the bucket.
(4) Disconnect all air hose, pumps etc...to the tank. Remove hood and lights.
(5) I put my hand inside the tank and began to pick up snails on the glass and any other snails on the gravel surface that I can see.
(6) I stire the gravel with my hand vigorously, this turned the water into this "poopy" green color, a lot of "bio" junk, gross actually. I kept stiring until I think all the dirt in the gravel has been stirred out.
(7) I cleaned my hands and went to the kitchen to get a drink, watched TV for 15 minutes while I wait for the junk to settle.
(8) After it settled I could see a 1/2" layer of brown silt on top of gravel. I used a hose to siphon off water from the tank to another bucket, but I am sucking up all the settled junk now. I emptied the bucket into the toilet, then siphon, empty...until the water is so low it's barely above the gravel.
(9) I now move the entire tank into my bathroom sitting on top of the counter top. I half filled another 5 gallon bucket with tap water and added dechlorinator again.
(10) I then filled the sink with tap water, added dechlorinator into the sink.
(11) I took out my three way breeder basket that I had for my mollies. I scooped up enough gravel into it, then lowered it into the sink, I basically used the breeder basket as a collander and rinse the gravel back and forth with the dechlorinater water in the sink. After that I put the cleaned gravel into the 5 gallon bucket of dechlorinated water.
(12) I repeated this until all the gravels are cleaned and rinsed. The bucket now has all the gravel, and my hope was by doing it this way, the beneficial bacteria on the gravel will be perserved - I hope so anyways.
(13) Now I can see the UGFs. I took them out and wipe them down with a rag and rinsed them directly with tap water.
(14) There is now 2 inches of "dark metter" water at the base of the tank. This is bad stuff, the smell is so bad I can only say it's worst than bait smell, my wife walked into the bathroom and said it smelled so bad it triggered her gag reflex. I drained those last inche of water too and wipe the entire inside of the tank down. Cleaned it completely.
(15) Then I added the UGFs back.
(16) Then I added 3 inches of tap water, added dechlorinator to it.
(17) Slowly scooped gravels from the 5 galloon bucket back into the tank, until it's filled with gravel again.
(18) Move the tank from bathroom back out to the living room.
(19) Half fill the tank with conditioned water.
(20) Put the plants and rocks back into the tank one by one, again watching for snails.
(21) Hook up air hose and pump and UGFs.
(22) Fill the rest of the tank.
(23) Let the UGF work for 30 minutes while I mopped up spilled water, cleaned up the bathroom, cleaned the outside of the tank, put everything back...
(24) Add the fish back into the tank one by one.
DONE.
Question - did I do it right? I should not have to cycle the tank again right?
