Can A Tank Be To Clean?

Everyday i suck up all the poop in my tanks and left over food, and perform a 25% water change, glass gets a quick wipe over with a algae magnet if a little dirty and jobs a good un! Filters get cleand only when the flow drops so every 2nd or 3rd month usually, i have tanks that i have set up for breeding and also comunity tanks, ive visited a few pleco breeders and there tanks have usually been mucky gravel, green algae all over the glass but water changes and water peramiters are all done and are ok and they get results by the plecs breeding, would it be off putting to keep the tank looking clean, should i just be leaving it to nature a little?

a lot of breeders will have "dirtier" looking tanks as they dont want to be disturbing the tank any more than they have to, plus a lot of bacteria is held in the substrate so not always beneficial to be too clean.
for community tanks or show tanks, i dont think you can be too clean, daily glass cleans, gravel vacs and water changes would keep them looking great without losing too much bacteria as the majority is kept inside the filter.

Yeah id like to be able to leave mine a bit bit i have clean tank syndrome i feel the urge to get a bucket and syphon out! Has anyone tried both aproaches to see if there is a difference in pleco behaviour?

Hi all,
Depends on how you define "too clean". You can certainly do enough cosmetic cleaning to compromise both water quality and fish health.

Against this you don't want to have lots of organic waste in the tank as this will contribute to the BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and this may remove enough dissolved oxygen to interfere with the ammonia - nitrite - nitrate conversion.

The important factor to remember is that if BOD is reduced, nitrogen conversion is enhanced. (You can skip the next bit if you aren't interested in the chemistry).

Aerobic decomposition of organic material
Oxidizable material + bacteria + nutrient + O2 → CO2 + H2O + oxidized inorganic such as nitrate (NO3) or (Sulf(ph)ate) SO4.

Nitrification
One of the most significant oxygen utilising processes is in “Nitrificationâ€, the biological oxidation of ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2-) and then nitrate (NO3-).

NH3 + CO2 + 1.5 O2 → NO2- + CO2 + 0.5 O2 → NO3-

Note all the "O2" in the equations, that is your oxygen.

Click to expand...

Once we've got past obvious organic waste (faeces, un-eaten food, dead fish/plants/shrimps etc), unless we have a planted aquarium nitrate levels will rise, so we need to change some water, this also removes some of the DOC (dissolved organic carbon). I like to change about 10% a day, although it doesn't have to be a small regular water change as long as you are changing about 100% of your water every 10 - 14 days (probably best not too do all 100% in one go).

Once you've done this after that it is entirely up to you how "house proud" you are. I personally like some snails (particularly MTS), DOC, mulm and "biofilm" (algae) and an undisturbed substrate. I want stability much more than I want cosmetic cleanliness. I also try and avoid putting my hands in the water, and I clean the external front glass with dilute vinegar rather than a stronger cleaner.

All my tanks are planted, but I do very little gardening, and no routine algae cleaning from the plants or back and side glass. I think the biofilm development helps with tank stability and also in providing feeding opportunities for fry. I also try to leave the substrate undisturbed (so no poking the syphon in it). If you don't have plants or MTS, you may have to clean your gravel every month or so.

If you are cleaning any rocks, bog-wood etc on a regular basis, or cleaning the whole tank regularly and particularly if you are using cleaning products (detergent, bleach etc) on filter bodies etc or dipping your plants in potassium permanganate or spraying dilute Excel on your moss (to get rid of the hair algae) you are probably doing more harm than good, and it might be worth doing a little less tinkering, (if you can out up with a little bit of untidiness).

cheers Darrel

Good reply Darrel :clap:
I would say that in my case I keep Panaques and a Gibby which are very messy feeders so I do vacuum the substrate weekly
Not saying its nessersary but its peace of mind
Pete

good to keep poo hoovered up, cant do it often enough IMHO but do let some algae grow on furniture and glass for plecs to graze on.

There is nothing I disagree with in that post.

Tank cleaning?