May be this has been already discussed before..I read some past discussions but did not find exactly what I needed to know.
I like to know how to clean the inside of a fish tank (the glass, plastic plants) without causing any difficulties to my fish. When I do 50% water changes weekly (my tank is a month old and I clean the filter regularly) I like to clean the tank while fish are still inside. Since I'm new to this I am a bit scared to do this thinking it will spoil the water and my fish will have a hard time for a while until the water gets filtered properly.
Any advise on this is appreciated...

Puh...l....e...ee....s, can someone respond.........

Welcome! Can you answer a few questions? Size of tank, how many fish, and what kind of filter?

The first thing that popped into my mind was "Don't CLEAN OUT your filter!" You want to build up the good bacteria in there. Just swish out the filter (in some of your tank water in a bucket) I siphon my tank & swish the filter media in there IF it is REAL GUNKY....otherwise leave it alone. Actually since I run 2 filters on each tank I "swish" one sponge one cleaning & the other the next week.

As for the decorations & tank sides I have one of those sticks with a sponge on one end & a scraper on the other. While I am removing water I scrape the tank walls & only wipe of the decorations if they get "ecky" looking. Then I refill the water (pour in declor while filling).

Hope this helps! Others will jump in soon!

Your fish shouldnt mind a bit of algae etc. floating about in the water til it gets filtered out, I mean thats what its like in a pond right! I usually do algae scrubbing and all that before I syphon out water, then I can suck up any big bits.

Thanks alot both of you..
Thanks for the tip not to clean the filter as I considered that as the most importnant task and used to take it to a sink outside and clean it until it looked new.
My tank actually is a 20 gallon tank with 3 goldies in it.(I live in the middle east ) My filter was recommended to me by the sales guy at the pet shop I wonder whether you have heard of this one...

"HaiYang HY-600F Biological filter,
performance: Hmax 1.3m
FLmax 800L/H.

I have turned the filter towards a corner of the tank, otherwise my fish get pushed to aside by the strong flow of water from it. I now have an idea how to clean the inside of the glass tank...thanks again

your tank might be cycling then, because the clorine in the tap water you cleaned the filter media in would have killed the benaficial bacteria. Heres a link explaining.. http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

I like to space out my HOB filters. In my 30 gallon tank I run three medium HOB filters AND a bubblewall. I placed the filters side by side across the back. There's plenty of current but the goldies do not have a problem. Is yours a hang on back filter? I wondered what kind when you said you "turned it toward the corner".

I have one of those mag-float ,floating aquarium cleaners.Helps remove algae from glass I usually only clean front of tank and leave algae for my Hong Kong Plec.That way my hand is never in the tank and it can be done at anytime.The only drawback is you have to watch for the cleaning side of the float as when it wears down it can eventually scratch the tank glass.

Love the laughing cat avatar I've seen it laughing on a website its hilarious

LOL, thats 'the cat who saw you naked'

I thought it saw you lucy and was telling me all about it

HAHAHA ..anywaaaaay, back to topic

OMG HAHAHAHA!!!

I am learning alot while having fun...I'm glad you all like that "pudi tat"...

It's 12:39 am local time but I had to log into Koko's before I'm done for the day.

Jeana727, what I meant by 'turned it towards a corner of the tank', is that I could turn the 'Impeller stand'
(that is the pipe like thing, through which the water come out in a powerful flow) of the filter, towards the closest glass wall. That way the strong flow of water does not create so much current in the tank. I don't know whether this pipe like thing can be turned to any side, in all filters available...

Gotcha Gummy! I just wasn't visualizing the thing! I thought maybe you had one of those little corner filters!! Jus' kiddin'!!!

I have a question....

Do you ever switch off the filter for a few minutes a day unless it's a power failure?

My pet shop sales person told me to switch off the filter for half an hour every day..but after reading these discussions about filters I realised that it isn't a good idea. I have a bubble wall in the tank in addition to the filter.

Filter should be on 24 hours a day.The only time mine are switched off is the couple of mins I take to clean a filter as I have 2 filters in each tank there is always one on at all times.

I agree the only time to cut your filter off is a short time to clean it! I also run 2 filters so there is ALWAYS a filter going!

I really can't figure out why they would advise that they be turned off!

Thanks for the advise...I don't switch the filter off now unless I have to clean it. This pet shop I'm talking about, got a nice set up and has healthy fish, and the staff are quite polite and offers some advise for their customers unlike in some of the other pet shops around...so I kind of took his advise very seriously...

Anyway, one more small issue...if this is common please let me know..
I did a 50% water change yesterday, removed two plastic plants from the tank (my Moor's favourites) 'cos it was looking a bit brownish rather than greenish and cleaned the glass from the inside (with a sponge). Now all my 3 fish are looking sad (they have changed alot), don't get that excited when I go near the tank and look the other side when I wave at them. I'm not exaggerating this is true. I'm upset over this and feel that I should do something about it. But I really don't know what I should do..

Do fish act like this when you do certain changes in the tank? Do they act like they miss their favourite stone,plant or a wall full of algae?

Well the first thing I'd suggest is:
I have read never to use a sponge to clean the aquarium...whether used or new. The reason is because the sponge contains chemicals that can be released into the tank and kill it. (I could be totally wrong but this is what I have heard). Used ones may have those chemicals too..but obviously if you use the sponge with household cleaners to clean things around the house, well those chemicals in the sponge can kill the fish too.

I would suggest using a designated algae scrapper for cleaning the inside of your tani.