Best Way to Clean Tank?

[eraserheaded]

Hi there,

I'm hoping to get some advice on the best way to go about cleaning my tank! I have a 40 gallon (~150 L) tank with an internal filter. I intend on switching from an internal to a canister filter soon, which I hope should help keep things a little cleaner. I do weekly 20% water changes and weekly cleaning as well as daily maintenance on food waste, excrement, etc.

Daily: I use a turkey baster to remove any excess food or decaying organic matter I find lying around the tank.

Weekly: I USED TO remove the river rocks and then use a siphon like this

to vacuum up gunk from the bottom of the tank, but I felt like the river rocks were just trapping/hiding waste and making it more difficult to maintain low ammonia levels and clean water. So today, during my weekly water change & tank cleaning, I did away with the river rocks in favor of a bare tank bottom.

I just find that there's usually a lot of waste in the tank, no matter how often it seems like I go in with a turkey baster or how thoroughly I clean the tank on a weekly basis. The siphon seems to suck out water much, much faster than it removes any significant amount of waste. It makes it VERY difficult to maintain low ammonia levels, which worries me a lot. Maybe there's a better siphon I could be using? Or maybe switching to a canister filter will make all the difference in the world?

Thanks for reading!
-Aartdina

 

[Donna001]

Hi there.
I was wondering how long you've had the tank and if you cycled the filter before adding your axolotls? Also, how many axolotls do you have in the tank?
Cycling the tank ensures all beneficial bacteria have colonised your filter so that ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0, and nitrate levels are low. Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling
The bacteria in the filter deal with the ammonia in the tank, and when I water test my tanks prior to the weekly clean, the ammonia and nitrite results are still 0. Nitrate is 40, the same as I get from the tap water.
The cleaning that you describe is exactly the way I clean my tank. I have a sand substrate with some rocks, bogwood and hides.
I would also like to point out that I have only been keeping axolotls for 3 months, so it would be worth getting the advice of the more experienced keepers on the forum.
I hope that this is helpful.
Best of luck with your tank and please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[eraserheaded]

Hi there.
I was wondering how long you've had the tank and if you cycled the filter before adding your axolotls? Also, how many axolotls do you have in the tank?
Cycling the tank ensures all beneficial bacteria have colonised your filter so that ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0, and nitrate levels are low. Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling
The bacteria in the filter deal with the ammonia in the tank, and when I water test my tanks prior to the weekly clean, the ammonia and nitrite results are still 0. Nitrate is 40, the same as I get from the tap water.
The cleaning that you describe is exactly the way I clean my tank. I have a sand substrate with some rocks, bogwood and hides.
I would also like to point out that I have only been keeping axolotls for 3 months, so it would be worth getting the advice of the more experienced keepers on the forum.
I hope that this is helpful.
Best of luck with your tank and please keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks again Donna, I'm going to start my nitrogen cycle process immediately and will post results. :*

 

[Urmat]

As far as what to use for cleaning, I use the python system which is basically a really long hose that you can connect to your water faucet to drain and fill the tank. I prefer to use it without the wide bit of hard tube on the end as I can clean tighter spots with just using the hose.
You'll drive yourself crazy trying to keep the tank 100% clean at all times. As Donna has mentioned, having a cycled tank will help a lot and you wont have to keep it spotless to have your levels in check.

 

[michaelgrace]

I was also facing the similar problem and now I have changed my cemented tank to stainless steel tank. Cemented tank often providing me the problem related to sand in the water. Now I comfortable, as this tank is easy to clean. I usually every week clean it with utensil cleaning soap and water remain fresh.