Tropical Fish Tank

Question
Hi Karen,

I have read some of your answers to other people questions and was impressed
by the amount of detail in your responses! So I was wondering if you could help
me?

I bought a tropical biUbe 6 months ago and have been changing 30% of the
water, filter and air stone every 4 weeks with the service packs. I have bought a
magnetic cleaner for the algae on the glass but the stones at the bottom have
become very brown and dirty and I am not sure what to do!? I went through a
period of overfeeding the fish (found out the hard way when 5 of the fish died). I
now have 5 guppies (?) left. They seem quite happy but the plastic plants, the
ceramic media, black stones and heater are all covered in brown muck. I feed
them Hikari Tropical Micro pellets. The light is on 24 hours a day, on bright for
8 hours and dimmed for the rest of the time.

I am really tempted to do a complete emergency clean by changing 100% of the
water and replacing the ceramic media and cleaning the plants and stones but
am not sure how to do it and if is really necessary??? I am also worried I will kill
all the fish! Someone has mentioned a gravel hoover?? Not sure where to get
this from or how it works!

I am a complete novice and very little knowledge on fish keeping so Janet and
John instructions would be helpful.

Answer
Hi there!
What you need to get is a gravel vacuum. You can find these almost anywhere there is pet supplies. There are large ones, small sizes, and medium size ones. I'm not sure how big your tank is but medium size ones are usually your best bet. You also need a 5 gallon bucket to drain water into.

The gravel vacuum is a very important if not the most important piece of aquarium equipment. You should "vacuum" your gravel at every water change. It's not hard to get the siphon started. Fill the wider tube completely with water, bend the hose so that water can't flow through, then lift the vacuum tube out of the water (with it still completely filled) release your hold on the hose so water will start flowing through. Then immediately put the tube back under water and get all the air out. Most of the time a siphon will be immediately started but sometimes it takes a little practice.

The gravel vacuum works by having just enough suction power to lift the gravel up but not completely siphon it away and also siphon up fish waste, algae and other waste matter.

The brown stuff you are seeing is likely Brown algae. Which can be caused by polluted water. You should try to change your water more than just once a month. Few aquariums can get by with once a month water changes and the fish be healthy long-term.

I would start changing 30% once or twice a week instead of once a month. It won't hurt your fish is water changes are so beneficial to them.

I hope this helps and best of luck!
Karen~