How Often to Deep Clean

[chenyi]

My gravel gets filthy. The siphon helps, but there is still crap everywhere. I have to take everything apart and wash the gravel and deep clean. Is that normal or should it stay clean indefinitely with water changes and filtration? Or do I happen to have very messy plants?

 

[Caliban07]

An aquarium isn’t the same as a hamster cage or vivarium. It’s an ecosystem and everything has its role to play. The ‘muck’ is decomposed organic matter that serves the plants and microbes within the substrate.

The water is purified by the plants and biological filter and water changes if you wish. I my opinion, constantly sterilising a substrate bed is counterproductive to the overall aim. You can wave the siphon over the gravel during water change day to pick up anything on the surface but underneath should be left alone.

 

[Andy Sager]

My gravel gets filthy. The siphon helps, but there is still crap everywhere. I have to take everything apart and wash the gravel and deep clean. Is that normal or should it stay clean indefinitely with water changes and filtration? Or do I happen to have very messy plants?

The natural world is not what we consider " Clean" and neither should your tank be. The tank can be aesthetically pleasing to the eye regarding keeping the glass clean or removing unsightly detritus from decorations but as Caliban07 stated, you are developing a system in an aquarium which consists of microbes and bacteria that makes the water inhabitable for the fish. These things feed off the detritus that is naturally going to occur with live animals.

Is your complaint about excess poo from your fish or dead leaves from your plants? If it's Poo, it means your filter is not adequate for the tank load. ( Fish like goldfish can be every dirty by producing large amounts of poo so they need larger filters than say a tank full of Tetras. ) There should be adequate water movement so that the poo is captured in the filter. If it's plant material, you can assist by trimming dying leaves before they decay but again, the decaying plant serves a purpose.

As for the gravel, if you get into the habit of vacuuming a section of the gravel at every water change, there should never really be a need to " deep clean" a tank. You want to clean no more than 1/4 of the bottom at any cleaning so that you don't disturb too much of your bacteria bed at one time. The nitrifying bacteria will reproduce rather quickly to replace what you removed but removing too much at one can cause a temporary imbalance that can negatively effect the fish and possibly kill them from ammonia before the imbalance is corrected. By doing water changes weekly with the gravel cleaning, your tank should look cleaner and more pleasing to the eye while maintaining it's balances that the fish need.

Hope this helps.

 

[chenyi]

Okay, that was kind of what I thought. But it doesn't seem to be working for me. I have "java fern lace". I think maybe this particular plant sheds a lot. I like the idea of cleaning one section at time.

 

[Colin_T]

Get a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link and use that to clean the gunk out of the substrate when you do a water change.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

 

[m.j.gomez]

Hello, I don't see sz of aquarium. So just tossing this out there.
Have you considered a wave maker. This will add circulation & you can position it so it pushes muck towards filter intake. This will keep area most visible a little more presentable.
Just a thought. Hope this helps!!!!!

 

[angiemike6]

If you are getting a lot of detriment on the substrate that could mean that you are over feeding. Advice is often to feed 2 to 3 times a day, but I only feed 3 times a week and my fish are quite happy at that level. You also need to ensure you dont give too much feed each time either. Like Andy I only vacuum the top of the gravel at each water change, and never deep clean. With my feeding regime there isn't even much detriment to suck up either.

 

[Andy Sager]

If you are getting a lot of detriment on the substrate that could mean that you are over feeding. Advice is often to feed 2 to 3 times a day, but I only feed 3 times a week and my fish are quite happy at that level. You also need to ensure you dont give too much feed each time either. Like Andy I only vacuum the top of the gravel at each water change, and never deep clean. With my feeding regime there isn't even much detriment to suck up either.

Just an FYI, a sparse feeding regime can work for some species but not for all. When hungry, some fish look at their tank mates as a good replacement for the missing food. A tank with proper filtration and a daily feeding schedule can be just as clean as one that is sparsely fed. I fed 3 times per day, EVERYDAY, and didn't have a filthy tank issue in any of my tanks. ( The key word is PROPER filtration. Most people cheap out on the filter which is the start of the problem. )