Best way to clean out a fish tank!??

[greengiant53]

Basically we have 2 goldfish and when we first got them were told never to fully clean out the tank...We were told to take out a jugful of water from the tank and replace it with fresh water one a week and this would keep the tank looking fresh and clean...Well that deffo isnt the case with my tank!! I went to feed them this morning and the water is looking really brown and there is poo everywhere! Ive taken a couple of jugfuls out and replaced it but it is still looking really dirty...I think it really needs a proper clean and the tank itself needs a clean inside aswell as the gravel at the bottom of the tank..Can I not put the fish in a seperatee container with some of the tank water,give the tank a good clean and replace it with all new fresh water?? I know I would have to leave the water for a day or 2 to settle but am worried as obviously I dont want to kill the fish!! But apart from doing that I really dont know what else to do!

Any suggestions would be greatfully recieved!!

Thank you

I've got fishtank with two goldfish and my tanks gets really filthy after a couple of months, especially on the sides. To clean it i use a double sided scrubber brush This is really effective for scrubbing the dirt off and then rinsing it out with some water.

A siphon vacuum pump makes water changes easier. The problem with using a jug is that all the fish poo falls to the bottom of the tank.

www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gravel+vacuum+for+fish+tanks+&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Agravel+vacuum+for+fish+tanks+

Have you got a kit so that you can test the quality of the water? I assume you clean the filter pump regularly.

You can buy chemicals that you can add to tap water to make it safe.

Agree with ReallyTired we used to have fish (actually DHs) I used to love hoovering the fish tank - it was rally satisfying seeing all the poo get sucked up the tube! Basically get the nozzle stuck right in the gravel as that's where it all settles, try not to disturb the gravel too much as all the settled waste gets kicked up.

Is your filter powerful enough as well and the filter cartridge needs to be changed quite frequently. You can get tanks that have the under gravel filtration but imho you still need to hoover the gravel so a wast of time.

I wouldn't recommend the full water change, if you do, try to aim to put them back with at least a third of the existing water they were in. Really little and often is best to avoid dramatic cleaning sessions/massive water changes.

Maybe it would be best to ask mumsnet to move this post to fishnet. There are some really good aquarium experts on there.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fishnet