Preventing an illness?

[Miyavp]

So soon I'm going to be doing a very long over due gravel vaccuming. I've read lots of horror stories of people doing gravel vaccuming after not doing it for a very long time and their fish getting very sick. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I dont have a gravel vaccum with enough suction to actually vaccume my gravel so I'm doing to stir everything up then do a complete water change.

 

[pip walters]

So soon I'm going to be doing a very long over due gravel vaccuming. I've read lots of horror stories of people doing gravel vaccuming after not doing it for a very long time and their fish getting very sick. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I dont have a gravel vaccum with enough suction to actually vaccume my gravel so I'm doing to stir everything up then do a complete water change.

If you haven't done it for a long time, here is my advice...... DO NOT stir it up and do a complete change. Get a gravel cleaner that will do the job and clean no more than half the gravel whilst removing 30 to 50% of the water. This way, you leave plenty of bacteria in the uncleaned gravel to repopulate the increased surface are of the cleaned side.

Then in two weeks time, repeat the process, cleaning the other side of the gravel bed. Alternate like this regularly every two weeks after that, removing 25% of the water each time and you should maintain a nice healthy tank.

Add some bacterial culture (Hagen Cycle is best) after each water change to replace the inevitable loss of bacteria when you clean the gravel.

 

[Miyavp]

The only siphon I can use(the one that hooks up to the faucet) is 40$. Idk how long it will be until I'll be able to buy it. Anything I can do in the meantime?

 

[pip walters]

The only siphon I can use(the one that hooks up to the faucet) is 40$. Idk how long it will be until I'll be able to buy it. Anything I can do in the meantime?

I am in Uk, here we get 'gravel cleaners' - a piece of clear tube to syphon with a larger tube thad you push into the gravel whilst you syphon onto a bucket. The gravel will lift slightly in the wider tube as the water flows, releasing the dirt into the bucket. Hagen do these gravel cleaners - they should be aroun $10 I would guess???

 

[shellieca]

The only siphon I can use(the one that hooks up to the faucet) is 40$. Idk how long it will be until I'll be able to buy it. Anything I can do in the meantime?

I have a vac/syphon I bought at Petsmart that's tubing with a bulb you squeeze to get the water flowing. It's easy & works great. I push the tube all the way down into the gravel & lots of yuck gets sucked up. I have 2 buckets, 1 for the used water & 1 for new water. They have different sizes depending on your tank size, I use it on my 10g tanks & 5.5g tank. As the other poster said, do half (or a little less) the tank really well one week & the other half the following week. Tanks that haven't had a good vacuum in a long time can release toxins into the water so in the case less is better until you get it caught up.

 

[BBradbury]

Vacuuming the Gravel

So soon I'm going to be doing a very long over due gravel vaccuming. I've read lots of horror stories of people doing gravel vaccuming after not doing it for a very long time and their fish getting very sick. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I dont have a gravel vaccum with enough suction to actually vaccume my gravel so I'm doing to stir everything up then do a complete water change.

Hello Mi...

Vacuuming the gravel isn't necessary for a healthy tank. All you really need to do is remove and replace half the water in the tank every week and your fish and plants will do fine.

Everything your fish do in the tank dissolves in the tank water. So, by flushing a lot of pure, treated tap water through the tank, weekly, you remove the toxins. If you change out half the water every week, then there's no time for wastes to build up in the water before the next large change. The large, weekly water change will guarantee a stable water chemistry for your fish and plants.

Just a thought.

B

 

[Miyavp]

I am in Uk, here we get 'gravel cleaners' - a piece of clear tube to syphon with a larger tube thad you push into the gravel whilst you syphon onto a bucket. The gravel will lift slightly in the wider tube as the water flows, releasing the dirt into the bucket. Hagen do these gravel cleaners - they should be aroun $10 I would guess???

I have one. It doesnt produce enough suction as my tank is on the floor.