Things You'll Need
- Gravel cleaner
- 5-gallon bucket
- Algae scrubber
- Water conditioners
- Chemical test supplies for pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates
Instructions
Turn all your aquarium equipment off, and gather your cleaning gear together.
Set your bucket on the floor or table so that it is below the tank itself. Follow the packaging instructions that came with your gravel cleaner to get the siphon action going from the tank into the bucket.
Move your gravel cleaner around the bottom while it is siphoning to suck fish waste and food debris out of the gravel.
Rinse your chemical filter under cold water until they are free of surface gunk. Do not use hot water, because this will kill beneficial bacteria on the surface. An alternative is to rinse it a few days before the water change to minimize the loss of beneficial bacteria.
Fill the bucket with cool (not cold) tap water, and add a splash of water conditioner to remove harmful substances. Make sure the water conditioner is added before putting the water in the tank. Do this as many times as needed to fill the tank back up to normal capacity.
Turn all equipment back on, and test chemical levels after a half-hour or so. Also check the heater for accurate temperature before returning your fish.