and also do you ever have to do a full cleaning of everything in the tank?

I vacuum my gravel everytime I change the water. So about twice a week. I've heard that you should completely clean the tank 2 times a year.

I don't think there is any hard and fast rule about cleaning gravel and the whole tank. I think it would depend on the number and size of fish in the tank and the size of the tank as well. I have a 35 gallon hexagonal that hasn't been torn down since it was set up in the fall of 2002. I have vacuumed the gravel just once and that was just a couple of weeks ago. I change 5 gallons of water every other day and the filter pad every 3-4 weeks. It is a Millenium 2000 filter. I have yet so see a build up of waste in or on the gravel. Right now there are about 10 goldfish and 8 swordtails in the tank. The goldfish aren't very large but growing nicely. I know this can't last and as soon as the pond water warms up the goldfish are going outside.
Milo

Hey Milo, is that the 10 that you hatched? Very cool if they are.

Sorry for the interuption, Please go back to you'r regularly scheduled topic.

They sure are (the other 10 or so over wintered in the pond) and the swordtails (all but 1, it's an original) are from adults placed in the pond in summer of 2002. That's a lot of fish in one tank and I don't really understand why the gravel has stayed clean.
Milo

I never do a complete tank clean. I remove some of my gravel every few weeks and rinse it well, then replace it amongst the rest of the gravel in the tank. The filter tubing, etc. gets cleaned out every 1-3 months, the filter media is cleaned every few weeks.

I vacuum my gravel everytime I change water (about 10% every otherday usually).

I siphon water out of my tank several times a week from the bottom of the tank and in and around the plants. Once a week I vacuum the gravel. I change the filter every three weeks, rinse it once a week when I vacuum. My water is very clear and never had problem even though my tank is overstocked!!

On a side note, my fish help me clean the tank. Not kidding. Mr. Happy (the oranda) roots around in the gravel, gets a mouthful of garbage, and spits it into the hose!! At first I thought it was an accident, but he's done it several times now.

I don't take my gravel out unless I'm redecorating the tank.

I do a gravel siphon on the tank every week.......


I don't every clean everything, I keep two filters on each tank so that when I need to clean one I leave the other one alone for the time, then next time I will clean the other. I don't think I have ever taken a tank apart and cleaned.

I suggest everyone with substrate remove some of it every now and then and REALLY clean it. It's amazing how mucky that stuff gets. Doing this won't harm your cycle, even if you use an UGF, so long as you only do a little at a time.