How do you clean your fish tank?

October 31, 2010 10:06 AM

What is the best way to clean an aquarium without getting a mouthful of water?

I hate siphons! Yet I have a fish tank. This is a twenty-gallon tank, currently with two residents, a goldfish and a plecostamus. I have yet to find a good way to clean the bottom of the tank. I am really averse to siphons. At one point I bought a portable, battery operated cleaner but it worked horribly and the motor died after about a week.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

posted by DMelanogaster to Pets & Animals (13 answers total)

Stick siphon hose all the way in the water, making sure it's filled entirely. Stick your thumb over the end to seal it, then pull end out to stick in the bucket (or whatever is lower than the tank) to drain. No dirty mouthfulls!
posted by 6550 at 10:13 AM on October 31, 2010 [4 favorites]

You don't need to suck the tube to start the siphon. You just need to immerse the coils in water until the tube is full, put your finger over one end, then pull it out and over the side until it is lower than the end that is in the aquarium. I tape a small plastic funnel over the end that stays in the aquarium, holding it down and stirring the gravel. This does a better job of releasing, trapping, and removing the dirt.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:15 AM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have no idea how you're getting water in your mouth, but if I were you, I would close my mouth while cleaning the tank. As the larger problem of pain in the butt siphons, you can get self-starting siphons. I used to have one. They work, and then you don't have the hose dripping water from it's sides on the floor because it was never immersed.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:17 AM on October 31, 2010

I have this: http://www.pythonproducts.com/aqprod.html.
posted by Mavri at 10:52 AM on October 31, 2010

I have a hand-started siphon from PetSmart. It was sold as a 'biorb' accessory. It's extremely easy to start, has a cover to prevent sucking up fishes and gravel and is very high volume. It's very much like the pump Jamaro mentioned, only specifically designed for aquariums.
posted by datacenter refugee at 11:49 AM on October 31, 2010

Response by poster: Wow, thank you. I'm going to start with the hand-started siphon from PetSmart. Maybe I'll even find out what a "biorb" is. It sounds like something I wish I were going as for Halloween.
posted by DMelanogaster at 12:45 PM on October 31, 2010

Biorb: http://www.biorbfishtanks.com/

I had one for my fish but I ended up swapping it for marineland eclipse 6 gallon tank. Biggest two problems with the biorb were no bottom area for decorations (fishie now has a sunken submarine which he likes to sleep under) and the fact that it was round & I kept it near a window made it a potential fire hazard. I'm very happy with the eclipse, it's a great little tank.

And to second datacenter, the hand-start siphon is awesome & definitely the way to go. Best aquarium keeping tool I have.
posted by lyra4 at 1:05 PM on October 31, 2010

I volunteer at an aquarium, and everyone there uses the method described by 6550.
posted by Xere at 1:24 PM on October 31, 2010

You may also find a cheap hand-pump siphon at a gas station/auto supply shop: they sell them for when your car is out of gas and you want to get some out of the tank in another car.
posted by Dr Dracator at 2:27 PM on October 31, 2010

Best answer: Slightly derail, but dude, you realise that a plec can grow to up to 60cm/2 foot? If, indeed, it is a pleco you have and not a bristlenose catfish, it is way, way too big for a 20 gallon tank. They are little and cute now, but grow quickly to be monsters, fyi.
posted by smoke at 4:01 PM on October 31, 2010

Seconding mavri- getting a Python changed my fishkeeping life. No mouthfuls of water, no buckets to carry. It gets even more important as you graduate to larger tanks.
posted by ambrosia at 4:28 PM on October 31, 2010

Best answer: I agree with mavri and ambrosia. I use a Python to clean the office fishtank, and it's super easy. You just hook it to the faucet outside, use the vac attachment to suck all the nasty stuff out of the gravel, and then turn it from vac to fill. There are no moving parts to break or batteries to change -- we've had ours for at least ten years, and it still works like a charm.
posted by vorfeed at 5:03 PM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Slightly derail, but dude, you realise that a plec can grow to up to 60cm/2 foot? If, indeed, it is a pleco you have and not a bristlenose catfish, it is way, way too big for a 20 gallon tank. They are little and cute now, but grow quickly to be monsters, fyi.
posted by smoke

I am now terrified.
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:31 PM on October 31, 2010