Gallon Fish

Gallon Fish
How often should I clean my 20 gallon fish tank?

Right now we have an angel fish, 2 sword tail fish, and 2 zebra danios in the 20 gallon tank, and I would like to know how often we should clean it. And also I would like to know what we should clean it with. (as you can tell I'm new at this!) Thanks!
we're going to be getting an algae eater soon. Once we have algae. The people at the fish store said not to get one until it has something to eat.

You are who you are, good aquarists do a weekly servicing on their tank for two reasons : first is that it keeps the tank clean, healthy and stable for the long term, the second is that if you can't put a half an hour per week into keeping the tank healthy then you are probably too lazy to own fish.

The person above is correct - you use a syphon vacuum with a gravel vac attachment on it and syphon out about 1/4 of the water into a bucket while vacuuming the gravel and replace it with new treated water. This is a simple chore and to neglect it is just silly. Before you do the water change, give the walls of the tank a quick scrub for algae - remove it while it's barely visible and easy to wipe off, or later it becomes a messy and stubborn chore.

With someone who maintains their tank propery the fish can live all their lives without ever being moved from the tank or the tank needing a total (and risky) clean out.

Also once per month you should rinse out your filter media in discarded aquarium water from a water change - this will keep it running smooth while preserving the bacteria in the media. If the media is falling apart and needs replacement you replace just some of the media - not all at once. Hopefully you didn't end up with a cartridge based filter.

Other then that feed lightly (You should not be letting the fish eat till they stuff themselves silly and can't eat any more) and don't add any silly additives to the water that messes things up - conditioner is the only thing you need.

Also you should get a couple more danios so they can have a little school.

Good luck

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