Know how to clean old aquarium gravel in these best ways can help you to purify your fish tank substrate without hurting the good bacterias inside for your fish development. One of the most essential things to care about a new fish tank is the substrate. Many people prefer gravel to set up a more beautiful scenery for their aquarium compares to other kinds of substrate materials. Though, how important the gravel is in the fish tank can make lots of fish raising beginners confusing since people usually use gravel only for decoration. It has more great uses for fish development that could be affected if you don’t know how to clean old aquarium gravel in the right way. No matter if you buy a new used fish tank or clean the tank you are using right now, this guide for how to clean old aquarium gravel can give the best care for your fish. More... Although gravel is not a must-have item in the fish tank, there are a lot of reasons why it could be great for your fish. The most important function is gravel provides a good place that beneficial bacteria can live. Lots of waste run out in the water every day, it can be fish waste, debris, leftover fish food, dead plants and so on, which not only pollute your fish living environment but also easier to increase ammonia level and give a threat to the fish lives. Without gravel, of course, good bacterias can find another place to live, but the-other-place will not be able to offer a better place than the gravel do, this leads to a lack of helpful bacteria quantity needed for your fish tank. In addition, gravel can help to reduce fish stress, which is also essential for fish growth. Gravel substrate protects the new fish eggs laid from mature fish attack as well as the plant roots in the tank can get enough place, nutrition and have a healthy life. Based on the fish types, your decorations and the cleaning frequency you want, you can choose a fitting substrate for your aquarium. Read more: An Ultimate Guide & Caring Tips: Red Texas Cichlid To find out how much gravel for aquarium is suitable, you should first consider what your fish and plant prefer, as well as how you will decorate the tank. The gravel layer must high at least 1 inch, you can choose a 2 inches height for most tanks. This tool will show how much gravel for fish tank that you need to prepare due to the tank size. For example, if your tank size is 40 gallons with 19 by 12 inches, the gravel layer height is 2 inches, you will need nearly 23 pounds of gravel to fill the bottom. Gravel is quite easy to set up, along with its colourful types, which is much more convenient for you to decorate the fish tank. Gravel has some basic colors like:
You can choose even more colors from brands like Glofish or Marina to upgrade the tank presence. Alongside, glass gravel for aquarium is a great choice to get more light effects. Read more: Best Fish Tanks 2019: Our Top Picks For Every Budget Gravel substrate maintains the water cleanliness because its space can hide all the uneaten food, waste and debris. Otherwise, this will make you neglect cleaning the gravel and turn the tank into a dangerous place for fish if it is too dirty than acceptable. With gravel substrate, not only good bacteria can grown-up but also other microorganisms can live too. That is why you should clean old fish tank gravel to keep your fish in the best environment. You should clean the aquarium gravel at least once every two weeks. This cleaning stage can follow after the partial water change. Consider it will not cost you much time, you can do the gravel cleaning frequently, but each time only cleaning for 20-30% of the tank will be much better for your fish.
* Using a python or other types of vacuum:
This preparation step is for turning on your vacuum and testing its function, not for taking all the water out.
Read more: Best Answers for Why Does My Fish Tank Smell You can clean fish tank gravel without removing water all exist in the aquarium, just get rid of the dirty ones.
With this cleaning solution, you can know how to clean old aquarium gravel without taking all of the tank water out or affecting your fish, plants and tank decoration. How to clean old aquarium gravel with a vacuum - this is the best way to clean gravel in a freshwater tank
Bleach is a chemical liquid that is quite harmful to your fish if you do not clean the gravel completely or use it with the wrong proportion. Although it contains a potential danger, using bleach is still good for how to clean aquarium gravel algae, filter hose, rock, plastic plants and the tank also. All you need is carefully clean the aquarium with bleach following this instruction to prevent harmful effects. *How to clean aquarium gravel with bleach:
Vinegar features safety cleaning and disinfecting functions, which is a better answer for ‘How do I disinfect my fish tank gravel’. Besides chemical bleach, you can use vinegar as a natural bleach to clean the fish tank easier without “hurting” the gravel and your fish. *How do I disinfect my aquarium with vinegar
Once you finish cleaning the aquarium with or without a vacuum, the next step is to make your aquarium a great living place for the fish again.
After cleaning fish tank with a vacuum:
After cleaning fish tank without a vacuum:
Besides using the treated water, you should care about the heat and nitrogen cycle of the tank. Adjust the suitable temperature with a heater for your fish or keep the fish tank warm enough without a heater and reduce ammonia level, as well as push the nitrogen cycle to work so that your fish can live in the best environment. Know how to clean old aquarium gravel is a big help for your fish since you can clean the gravel and keep the fish develop better at the same time. Cleaning is not an easy task, too clean is also not good for your fish, either. Therefore, get the right way to clean the tank is what you need for the upcoming life with your fish. I hope these cleaning solutions can support you to clean the old fish tank gravel without taking much time and effort, still get a great result as needed. If you have any other better ideas about how to clean old aquarium gravel, or you are about some cleaning stage in this article, just feel free to leave a comment for us. We are happy to get your ideas or support you as much as we could. If you find this helpful, don’t forget to like and share this for your relevant, we really appreciate that. Related keywords: how to clean canister filter, how often to clean canister filter, aquarium canister filter, how to clean a canister filter, how often should i clean my canister filter, cleaning canister filter, how often clean canister filter, how often to clean canister filter hoses, canister filter maintenance, fluval 407 canister filter maintenance, fish tank canister filter, how often should you clean a canister filter, how often should i clean my fluval canister filter, when to clean canister filter, how often should you clean canister filter, how often do you clean a canister filter, how often do you clean canister filter, how often to clean fluval canister filter, how often to clean a canister filter, how often to change canister filter media, how often should you clean your canister filter, how often to clean aquarium filter, how to clean fluval filter, how to change aquarium filter without losing bacteria, how to clean aquarium filter sponge |