I've been going to college and working and I have not cleaned my fish tank in a while .My canister needs to be clean and my water parameters are bad. What to do first, fish started to swim top of the tank for air. I don't know what to do because I was told not to clean your filter and change water same time.
Recommendation on cleaning
- Thread starter davidwolf
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Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
The first thing you need to do is get more aeration into the water. Add an air stone or bubbler. Next is to do small ( 10% +/- ) daily water changes to gradually get your water parameters back to " normal". ( You can do this 2 times per day if you wait 10-12 hours in between changes) As for your canister filter, you can take the filter material and gently rinse it in the tank water you are removing. You need to occasionally clean the filter material to keep if from clogging as well as keeping the microbe colonies alive. You do this by gently washing it in dechlorinated water or better yet, the water you are removing during the water change. Remember, you are not looking to get the material clean as it was when brand new but clear of gunk so that water can pass through it. When the filter material gets really nasty, you want to replace only 1/2 of it at a time so that the microbes on the old material repopulate in the new material. During this period, you do not want to add any new fish to stress the system. At the next water change, as long as the water parameters are still at proper levels, you replace the other half of the " nasty" material and add new. ( I actually like to wait a month which is the 4th water change before replacing the other half. )
The thing to remember is that the water gradually got bad so if you change too much too soon, the fish may not adjust to the drastic change.
Hope this helps.
Airborne 82nd
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
If you post your water parameters it would help to decide what to do first. Are you using a air stone?
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