advise needed on cleaning community tank

haron

hi. i was given a 70ltr tropical tank 2 weeks ago complete with water and fish, tank was already cycled. after 2 weeks fish are still alive. how do i go about changing the water? do i need to take the fish out to clean or can they stay? and if i need to take them out do i have to wait for water temperature to rise before putting the fish back in the tank? also have a monolux 80 light for the tank how long does the light need to b on per day?

fungun

light on maybe 8 hrs a day, more if you have plants.

No need to take fish out. Basically you get a siphon and siphon out water through the gravel and that clean the gravel too. Best only removing 20-30% of the water. Then treat tap water with stress coat/aquasafe to remove dangerous chemicals and then add it back in. Need to do this approx every 2weeks.

haron

thanks for the help. does the light need to b on eight hours constantly or can it be split 4 hours in the morning 4 at night? also thinking of changing the gravel can i just take out the old stuff and replace with new or would this affect the tank

paul71

haron wrote: »

thanks for the help. does the light need to b on eight hours constantly or can it be split 4 hours in the morning 4 at night? also thinking of changing the gravel can i just take out the old stuff and replace with new or would this affect the tank

Taking out the gravel would remove much of the beneficial bacteria in it. Your gravel is esentially a second filter so be careful doing this. Why are you doing it, because of the colour, if so I suggest partial changes of the gravel over a period of time.

haron

yeah just wanting to change as the gravel in at the min is old and lost its colour so just trying to clean up the tank