Cleaning Aquarium ?

[dersguan]

Hello,

So my grandfather has an aquarium and we will be cleaning it soon. There is still two fishes living in the aquarium, I don't know what kind. Water changes haven't been done for a long time, but he refilled the water that has been evaporating. The aquarium hasn't been cleaned in a long time and I'm wondering what steps we should take to clean the tank?
Thank you for your help

 

[fearlessfisch]

Hi, there,
Here's an old thread that might be useful. You might find others by searching for "neglected tank" or "old tank syndrome."



https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/nasty-freshwater-tank-54384.html



Your key will be many partial water changes and not changing all the filter media at once, so you don't clean out all the beneficial bacteria that lives in the surfaces in your filter. Rinse some of the filter media in a bucket of water taken from the tank (not tap water) and then put the media (not the dirty water) back in the filter. That way the bacteria survives. You can throw out some of the dirty media and replace it with new filter media, but make sure you are rinsing and keeping a lot of the old media, too. Be wary of stirring up too much stuff from the bottom all at one time. Just be steady with daily improvements, and you will soon have a nice tank.


If you don't own a Python water change hose/siphon, you might want to get one, as they make water changes very quick and easy.

I am not sure how familiar you are with aquariums. When you do a partial water change, be sure to match temperature and add dechlorinator like Seachem Prime. You should have a test kit and be monitoring ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. Good luck!

 

[BBradbury]

Tank Cleaning

Hello,

So my grandfather has an aquarium and we will be cleaning it soon. There is still two fishes living in the aquarium, I don't know what kind. Water changes haven't been done for a long time, but he refilled the water that has been evaporating. The aquarium hasn't been cleaned in a long time and I'm wondering what steps we should take to clean the tank?
Thank you for your help

Hello der...

Proceed slowly. Start by setting up a weekly water change routine. I would remove and replace 20 percent of the tank water. Every week change out a little more, until you get to the point you're removing and replacing half. When you change the water check the filter system and clean it. This is all that's really needed to maintain a fish tank.

B