My 36 gallon tank is one year old and is doing very well. Five gallon water changes have been done bi weekly or monthly. I am wondering if the tank should get a thorough cleaning by removing the fish and washing the gravel, plastic plants and other decorations. Over the past year I have removed everything from the tank three times and rinsed and rubbed off algae and other discoloring materials. During the water changes I use a siphon to clean the gravel.

No there is no benefit of doing it, you risk washing away all of you bacteria that fights off the fish waste and recycling your tank which could potentially kill your fish... you could though do a large water change as much as 80% if you wanted to which would be a good start and maybe over a period of time clean your decorations one by one if you really wanted too, personally i like the look of a little algae but its preference. hope this helps!

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Tank
125g african cichlids making it work
75g rimless Reef in progress

Hello cagey...

Your water changes should really be done weekly and a minimum of half the water in your tank should be removed and replaced with pure, treated tap water. Small water changes are really not much better than nothing.

Thinking of your tank as an unflushed toilet may help motivate you to do large, weekly water changes. Your fish are doing their business in the water and pollutants build up daily. The fish have to breathe in that dirty water and their gills are extrmely senative to pollutants in the water, especially ammonia and nitrites.

I've had my large, planted tanks running for several years and just remove and replace 60 to 70 percent of the water every week. I've never broken down the tank and cleaned it. I'd have to find a home for my fish and plants and recycle the tank. That's not an option.

IMO, if you stick to a better water change routine and regularly maintain the filtration equipment, you won't need to go to such drastic projects as cleaning the entire tank.

Just a thought.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

I never do anymore than 25% WC when I actually do get around to changing my water. The reason i don't do WC anymore is because I had about 15 or so fish keel over on me due to PH shock one time.

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75 Gallon Planted

I also do monthy water changes, 50%. I have no need to pull down my tank just because they arent done weekly.

If you are getting algae and want to clean it off the decor, just pull them out and do it monthly, do NOT do the gravel though, just the plastic plants & decorations. While they are out give the gravel a really deep clean all over.

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1x350L Goldfish, 1x 286L Planted, 1x190L Cherry shrimp, 1x140L Feeders, 1x130L Planted, 1x119L Peppermint BN breeding colony

70% a week is overkill and not necessary for the fish to thrive. If you're heavily planted, WCs aren't a big deal. If you aren't heavily planted, a 25% WC every week or two will get the job done. This is assuming you're not overstocked, overfed or underfiltered. I like to follow the KISS method: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

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If the water in your tank was your water and the water you replaced it with was yours, then ph shock couldn't have done it. Changing water doesn't cause a ph change unless you either have issues with your water, like low kh, or you changed with something like RO water. If your water has very low kh, this is something you should correct.

I think if you want to do large water changes it is up to you. There is less chance of something happening during large changes than there is letting the tank go for long periods without. Discus breeders do 80%+ daily changes. A water change is a water change. Simple enough to do 20 or 80% - same function. Only difference is time.

If you want to go minimalist on it, just let your nitrate level decide how much you change to keep it below 40ppm or so. I would never "thouroughly" clean my tank.

I do water changes about once a month, but my 75 gallon tank is no where near capacity as far as fish are concerned. Four pictus, one brown knife fish, and one bristle nose algae eater. And I double up on filtration, always have, one top fin60, and one tetra whisper ex70. Someone mentioned above that plants help reduce the need of water changes, does this include plastic? Probably not, just askin.

JR.. Some discus breeders do NO water changes!...

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12 Tanks, 900 gallons. Discus/Angels/Malawi/Lake Victorias. Just added a 135 & 2 - 29's..

From what I have read....the less successful ones. I don't breed them, so it doesn't concern me. I just go by what is out there to read.

JR.. not to get into a debate.. but most discus come out of discus factories... bb tanks.. 80% flushes daily on an automated or semi-automated basis. They are in it as a business. The home breeder for the most part are convinced they need to replicate their programs to ensure success in breeding or maintaining fish. An attentive home hobbiest is from a whole new ball of wax.
Look into the Diane Walstad method... NO FILTRATION, NO WATER CHANGES.. and while she is somewhat ridiculed in some circles she is celebrated in others...
I was just pointing out it's a bit erroneous to make a declarative statement about something you're not engaged in.
My Discus tank gets NO W/C's other than replenishment due to natural evaporation and light substrate cleaning. The tank is HEAVILY planted with only 8 discus in a 155G. The Discus are a month short of 1 year old (haven't lost ANY) (knock on wood) so they are a bit short of coming into breeding state. Bill in Va.

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12 Tanks, 900 gallons. Discus/Angels/Malawi/Lake Victorias. Just added a 135 & 2 - 29's..

When i get my discus i will not be doing large daily WC thats for sure.
1/ i just dont have the water supply to do it.
2/ Its not fully necessary i believe.

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1x350L Goldfish, 1x 286L Planted, 1x190L Cherry shrimp, 1x140L Feeders, 1x130L Planted, 1x119L Peppermint BN breeding colony

Getting back to the OP's questions, I would agree that you don't need a complete overhaul. The only time I would say that is warranted is if you have an unplanted tank with an undergravel filter, solely because the manufacturers of the UGF's suggest 6-month overhauls. Instead, as mentioned, I would do a 50% or even 80% PWC and vacuum the beejesus out of your substrate. What's your filter media changing schedule?

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Walstad? Who is Walstad? Rhetorical. I have read Walstad's and Kasselman's books on keeping planted tanks. I have read numerous discussions on her methods on here, as well a few planted sites. Not a revalation to me.

Not sure what factories you refer to? I don't personally know of any. I was referring to people on forums like simplydiscus and what they say they do. I don't think I need to be actually breeding Discus, or "engaged" in it, to be able to read and relay what I've read. I only stated what I've read and my very simple, non-detail, statement is still true.

I think it is great if the home breeder is trying to push beyond what the norm may be. Although there may be a few out there doing that, my guess is they still move the fry to their own tank, one of which will not be the same environment they were born in. Many breeders out there do this for a number of species of fish today - not just Discus. The main purpose may be to protect from harm of other fish, but nonetheless, a normal practice.

If you are a no water change, no filtration aquarist....question for you? What does your ph read in your tank and at your tap? Do you need to add ph products to maintain? This is not to criticze or anything. Only a data point for other discussions that have gone on, on the forum. You are one of a few conducting this practice of "only" topoffs.

Good question JR.. .My tap comes out at 7-7.2... but I don't concern myself too much with PH and Discus this time around. I'll not touch Wild Caughts.... way too much work. My tanks do run about 6.6 - 6.8.. due to the driftwood and occassionally I gather a half dozen oak leaves (dried), band the stems together and bury the stems... lowers my ph and keeps my water softer I think. My am/nitrite/nitrates stay at zero except the nitrates will spike to 5 if I go more than 2 weeks without a vacuum.
I'm also thinking that there are more than a few folks practicing the top-off approach but might be hesitant about speaking out about their practice!...
I also maintain 2 big angel tanks with the same routine. I haven't started my breeding programs yet but I have a spawn going on pretty much non-stop. Now that the holidays are almost over I will be setting up an Angel breeding operation now that I've found an outlet for "every Angel you can rear to quarter size"... My operation will be:
3 5G's for egg hatching, 1 10G to host 3 baby brine shrimp hatchery systems, 3 20G-talls for the breeders I've got, 2 29G's for fry rearing and a 55G for grow-outs. Should be interesting.

On a final note...or two.. I feel a lot of folks either get intimidated about the amount of effort some promote for fish keeping and another group that live for the micro-management of fish-keeping. Hell, go to your local pet-co/smart and you'll see almost as many drugs/chems as you would find at your local drug-store!... Great for profits to the suppliers, so much b.s. for the hobbiest.

My only chemical input is Prime for top-off's... K.I.S.S. Bill in Va.

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12 Tanks, 900 gallons. Discus/Angels/Malawi/Lake Victorias. Just added a 135 & 2 - 29's..

I'm the latter. High-tech to the extreme. Only thing I'm missing is nice DIY LED fixtures. I do 50% PWC's weekly for my plants, not for my fish. I add fertz with the fresh water. My tanks could be left alone and the plants would literally soak up ALL of the nitrates (I've seen it happen on a weekly basis, hence why I add more each time). In fact, these past two weeks my tanks have gone without WC's and the only thing I need to worry about now that I'm home is some gardening.

Just my .02, and always willing to make change

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

My personal view is I dont see a tank as healthy if it doesnt get its weekly changes,and I do 50% on them.These are tanks with low stocking,heavy planting and canister filters.I dont see the need to do a complete tear down on any cycled tank as its more detrimental than anything unless you have a horrid disease where you have to scrub it all down.Of course this is one main reasoning for qt,but not everyone sees that i suppose.

As for whos method,well its mine lol.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I feel water changes ARE normal practices. The Walstad method requires plants. I could argue that there is more intimidation to keeping plants than simple draining and refilling with water. At least there is not much to learn to drain and fill with water. Plants have special requirements...if nothing else, adequate lighting. This isn't even something you get when you buy your typical aqaurium kit that many people start with. If you have no plants, no way you can go without changes unless you are just asking for trouble down the road.

For me personally, the technically difficult parts of what I do I bring on myself but I am also okay with it. Just as easy to go back, but I like being able to grow any plant there is, watching the bright greens and reds from adequate dosing of ferts and CO2, and whatever else you get from taking your plants to a whole other level. There are some limits to low/medium lighting and no CO2.

So your ph remains fairly stable and stays at a 6.6-6.8 level? That's cool. Do you use anything for water flow? Also, you mention a vacuum every two weeks. Can you do that without removing water?

Good luck on your Angel breeding. Sounds like a nice setup.

Each week I vaccum my gravel, wipe the inside glass, and do a 30-50% water change. If any of the decorations need it, I take them out and clean off. It doesn't take long if you do it weekly cause there's not much build-up and I have a skinny water hose/vaccum system that not only sucks the gunk off the gravel, but I just flip a switch and I can put fresh water in the tank from the hose. It attaches to my kitchen sink.