# Tank cleaning



## Kathie (Feb 19, 2005)

I've notice that my tank is really cloudy and has leftover food and such still in it. It appears that my filter pulls stuff in and spits it out the top, back into the water. I think I need a new filter. Should I do a total tank clean? The gravel needs it. Also, do I have to treat the water and let it sit 24 hours again before I put my betta back in? Will he be ok in a small bowl until then?


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## DJ (Feb 20, 2005)

1. You should feed battas like 4 pellets 2 times a day and I prefer to one pellet at a time.
2. If it's cloudy just use a water clearer.(I use _Jungle- Clear Water_)
3. Also if you have a plastic tank the tend to get cloudy easily.


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Just take a couple of milk or whatever jugs (cleaned well), fill'em up and let them sit overnight, then clean out your tank, put the betta in a small bowl while your cleaning, he'll be fine. For small tanks, just construct a gravel vac from a piece of airline tubing and rigid airline and vacuum the top of your gravel up. Gravel aids in the biological filtration, so taking it out every time in a tank that has a filter kinda defeats the purpose. 

In a small container like a 1g, it doesn't matter, because those little things never cycle anyways, but in anything from 5g and up, I'd go with standard aq maitenance: gravel vac once a week, partial wc (about 20%) weekly and once in a while a full one (under 10g) and let the filter do the rest. The cloudiness you see is new tank syndrome. Keep up the wc's and it will go away, keeping an eye on the water quality. In any case, stay away from chemicals! Now what you could do is get your hands on some "Cycle" and "B-Clear", both are biological additives that aid the cycling process and enhance the water quality. I've used them in combination before and you can literally watch how the cloudiness dissapears. Great stuff.


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## DJ (Feb 20, 2005)

I didn't understand a thing that thats fishy said.

with that clear water stuff just use a drop for a 1 gal. tank.


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## kidbetta (Feb 2, 2005)

When cleaning the tank.... treat the water first with a good water treatment and use CYCLE as mentioned above for your 5 gallon tank..... It works great!

Read your other post about fish not eating... I suggest you start all over...... and take a ph reading... it sounds like something is going wrong with your water in the tank.... maybe the filter/the ph/the un-eaten food that has dropped to the bottom.... 

I only used water treatment and CYCLE when starting a new tank/water change....


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

Clear water doesnt work... plus I try to stay away from any other chemicals other than Aqua safe. 
Just change the water once or more per week and take all uneaten food out. I only fed my betta once per day 2 pellets, they can go every other day or even a week, we feed the bettas at work once per week 3 pellets. I would prob feed 2-3 pellets once per day and then feed bloodworms the other feeding.


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## kidbetta (Feb 2, 2005)

I never use any type of clear water/jungle chemicals to remove cloudiness.......

The AquaSafe is good/NovAqua and my favorite stress coat....

I prefer Stress Coat.... but anyone does the job....


Once in a while my tank get's cloudy when it's being set up.... But, it goes away within minutes/hours/next day.. It's normal...  It depends on the size of the tank..... anyway from what your describing since you ran the tank for over 3 days now and it's cloudy/the filter is not working properly/there is food on the bottom/your betta is not eating....... I will start all over.....


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