Cleaning and maintenance

Hopefully this will be for tropical fish as well as goldfish.
Questions...

1} How often should I syphon the gravel, a ten gallon tank with 12 small
tetras?

2} Should I ever boil the rocks, or take them all out and get rid of all
the "gunk"?

3} Should I rinse the sponge from the filter in cold water?

4} Should I ever dump all the water and start with all new water with
the fish I have?

Thanks!

syphon gravel every time you do a water change. do water changes to keep nitrates in
the proper range. the friendly biobacteria are in the rocks, dont destroy the
filtration system by cooking or even washing the gravel in untreated water.
yes, most people move the water and fish to a holding bucket with an airstone, then
really clean the gravel with TREATED water once or twice a year. always clean the
gravel if nitrates are stubbornly high and wont come down and stay down after
changing water.
rinse the sponge from the filter in treated water only
there are times when the only thing can be done is start with fresh water. make sure
it is temperature and pH matched, however. Ingrid

(Laura) wrote:


Hopefully this will be for tropical fish as well as goldfish.
Questions...

1} How often should I syphon the gravel, a ten gallon tank with 12 small
tetras?

2} Should I ever boil the rocks, or take them all out and get rid of all
the "gunk"?

3} Should I rinse the sponge from the filter in cold water?

4} Should I ever dump all the water and start with all new water with
the fish I have?

Thanks!



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As a rule you should only part change the water as this will not come
as a shock to your fish.
hope this helps ,
Mick

As a rule you should only part change the water as this will not come
as a shock to your fish.
hope this helps ,
Mick