General Care Discussion :: easy cleaning

[princesstee76]

Does anyone have some tips on easy cleaning of tanks? It seems to take a few hours to rinse rocks, lug the tank outside to hose it off etc...

[Pizza]

Well having a few rocks for your turtle to play with is fine, but you don't necessarily need a lot of them, or even any of them, they do make cleaning a lot longer, and they trap harmful debris under them.

Well if your tank is large, most people just leave it in the house and siphon the water out through a hose, either to their backyards, the sink, or the toilet. Then they pour new water in. If there is algae or any nasty residue in the tank, then scrub (or get something like an electric toothbrush), rinse, and siphon away.

Many people have invested in a useful tool, named the "Python", which is an automatic siphon that gets water out quickly, and gets water back in without you having to do anything (it costs anywhere from 20-70 USD). This tool can be found in pet stores in the fish supplies aisle.

[missibsu]

Good advice mentioned above. The only things I would add are:

If you have a large tank, you don't need to do complete cleanings everytime. Partial will do.

Also, submersible electric scrubbers are available for things like dishes and they work well for algae on the rocks and glass. It's bigger than an electric toothbrush, so it shouldn't take as much time.

[ploskinj]

hi missibu,

can you post pictures of "submersible electric scrubbers"? i think this is what i need...

thanks!

[pumpkinsherbet]

what i do is syphon out the waste and debris with a turkey baster. i do partial water changes on a weekly basis. i've only done a full water change once, when i was having a problem with algae. get a good filter. the larger tank's been surprisingly easier to keep clean than the smaller one was.

[N4784N R4613]

hi missibu,

can you post pictures of "submersible electric scrubbers"? i think this is what i need...

thanks!

Check out this post...
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7416

[ploskinj]

thanks N4784N R4613!

[RunninWideOpen]

I am having problems finding something to clean the dry residue that builds above the water line. It feels like caked on dirt, but I can't find anything that takes it off. I've scrubbed and scrubbed.

Anyone have any ideas? It builds mostly on the side of the tank with the filter than the side without the filter.

[pumpkinsherbet]

mineral stains, especially evident when you have hard water. a bit of vinegar will clean it up. vinegar's the wonder-liquid.

[marisa]

Truly---for general household cleaning as well.

[RunninWideOpen]

I tried using white vinegar, like for cooking I think? Is there a different type of vinegar for cleaning that works better?

[adam85491]

Actually, I traded with my brother (A tube to an undergravel filter plus a valve (about 5 dollars total) for this thing that you dunk in the water several times and this little tube on it goes in a bucket or out a window or something (as long as it is lower than the tank), I had never seen something like this before and I used it to suck in the stuff on the bottom and between some rocks, and it worked pretty well. It cost about ten dollars and he got it from Walmart.

[kinetic]

what about using this when you do a full tank clean?

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ct ... agecleaner

has anyone had success with this, i usually just scrub really hard and rinse it out with hot water cause i know cleaning chemicals are bad to use... any thoughts on this product?

[marisa]

I've never used it, I just use the Wipe Out product that sanitizes hands.

tohmit, the white vinegar is the same as the distilled white vinegar used for cooking. Have you tried saturating a paper towel, laying it on the residue and leaving it there to soften it up? You could also use baking soda to scub the tank (it won't scratch the glass).

[RunninWideOpen]

no, i haven't tried the paper towel thing. I will definitely try that next time. That's something that should probably wait till I do a water change, right? Not something you wanna do with the turts in there, even though its above the water?

if that doesn't work i'll try the baking soda. thanks for the advice!