# Cleaning Someone Else's Tank



## raeven (May 12, 2011)

Okay, so I've got this buddy of mine who's had his fish tank for a little while now. Probably about a year or so. The other day he asked me if I wanted to come over and help him clean it out with my gravel pump and so on. I figured I wouldn't mind helping, so sure.

Here's the thing: we clean our tanks very differently. I've done my research and I know all the steps on how to keep both of mine running without any issues. He, on the other hand, doesn't do nearly the same thing I do.

From what I'm understanding, he doesn't do weekly water changes. More like every month or two. Takes out probably a gallon or two (I -think- it's a 25 or something like that), and fills it back up with water that's been sitting out for a few days. He doesn't bother putting any conditioner or anything back in. So really, that's about it. Yeah, I know. Not exactly the greatest of ways to keep a tank.

Strange thing is, the fish he has in there have been there since the very start. A few guppies and some tetras from what I can remember. Now when I go in there, I don't want to mess anything up and be responsible for killing his fish. I'll be cleaning his gravel and so on, but what I'm not sure about is whether or not I should bother putting conditioner into the new water, or if I should just stick with his routine and use the tap water he'll be leaving out for however many days he wants.

Any suggestions on this?

Oh, and I'm totally bringing over my water testing kit. I want to know what his conditions are before I get started. And honestly, for pure curiosity.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

You heard it said before: "If it is not broken, don't try to fix it." Been there and try not to go there again.

If you try to fix something that is not broken and it breaks you are liable 

If they are not sick, either the water is good or his fish are climatized to whatever poor water conditions they are in. Do a drastic swing and you could be guaranteed trouble


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## target (Apr 21, 2010)

As for the no water conditioner, leaving the water out gases off the chlorine and lets you skip the conditioner. I used to do the same thing on my 10g tank years ago. Most of us just change too much water for this to be practical.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Follow his routine. That way, if anything goes wrong, it's not something you did differently. 

His water (aged, not conditioned). You just do the gravel vacuuming. I would tell him to prep more water than usual since you will find the gravel very dirty and need to do a bigger water change than he usually does.


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't use water conditioner, either, other than crushed oyster shell in the aging buckets. I let it stand for a minimum of 24 hours. If I need water warmer than room temp, I add a kettle full of well boiled water. I do run an airstone in the buckets for a while before using... most of the time.

But like Seahorse said, follow his routine, regardless of your own prefrences, and remember, no good deed goes unpunished


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Although I love to stir up trouble, I can't disagree with any of this advice.

Cheers,
Chris


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## raeven (May 12, 2011)

Thanks a bunch for the info, guys. I think keeping it simple will be the best. His fish must be very hardy or something. I personally can't understand it. But hey, if it work, it works. So I'll just do a basic water change/gravel pump and leave the rest for him. 


I know this is going to sound bad, but my god, I'm kind of excited to see how dirty that water is going to be lol. I remember how bad mine was after the first few months of having a tank. Can you imagine a year?!?!


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## momof3 (Nov 16, 2011)

Hi I'm new but not new to fish keeping, I clean my tanks like most on the forum do but my sister seems to be in the same boat as your buddy, she has had the same fish from day 1 and no issues except she never cleans her tank, she just fills it with more water from the tap (?!?!) when it starts to evaporate and cleans the filter when needed it's the weirdest thing and you look at her tank from the outside is not in bad shape it's shocking!!! I guess that the fish just get used to living in this condition and deal with it!! I would be afraid to clean her tank as I may kill a fish due to the drastic change in water conditions when cleaned lol!


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## pistolpete (May 2, 2010)

surviving and thriving are two different things. Fish will survive some atrocious conditions. I think you have gotten some excellent advice, but there is usually no harm in educating someone a little, encourage your buddy to read a book about fish keeping.


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## lednail (Apr 22, 2010)

some cities use chloramine instead of chlorine, and it dose not gas off or brake down fast.
Chlorine and Chloramine - What is the Difference Between Chlorine and Chloramine?


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## mdwflyer (Jan 11, 2011)

So did you take any before/after pics?


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## raeven (May 12, 2011)

LOL I haven't done it yet. Don't worry. Whenever I do (this could be a month from now, for all I know), I'll definitely be posting the results on here. I know I'm facinated to see what his water conditions are like compared to mine. And I know that a year of no gravel pump is going to be a ton of grossness to pull out.


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## raeven (May 12, 2011)

OKAY! So. I just got back from doing the cleaning. This is how it all went.


I get there, and the first thing I want to do is test the water. The guys were in a bit of a hurry to just clean clean clean, so I was only able to test four things. The PH was at I think 6.5 or so. Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0. Nitrates...(brace yourself) 160. That's not an error. I've never seen anything so horrible before. And that was before I let the vial sit for five minutes to get a definite reading.

While I'm doing this, they start pulling out the decorations and putting them off to the side. Buddy decided he wanted to wash his stuff. I had no idea he was doing this, so when I turned around and saw them in the sink, no big deal. But he had them in soapy hot water and was using a regular dish scrubber. I absolutely -cringed- when I saw that.

Apparently, (I didn't get to see it) the first 5 gallons they pulled were pretty bad. The next 5 weren't -as- bad, but it made my tanks look friggen awesome during water changes.

He then wanted to clean out his filter, and in the middle of me telling him to use the old tank water, he just kind of shrugged and said "oh well" and proceeded to run his filter sponge under the tap in the bathtub.

In the end, we ended up using conditioner for the new water, and I was going to put some PH Stable in as well, though the directions on the bottle were very confusing, and I didn't want to take any chances.

Definitely not the greatest of water conditions. In fact, I'm terrified that cleaning it to the extent he wanted, I think his fish are going to have to go through a soap residue issue, as well as being pushed through a nitrate cycle.

On the plus side, it seems his fish are pretty hardy. 5 fruit tetras, 4 neons, 1 guppy, and one neon rasbora (I believe). So maybe they'll be able to survive this...Here's to hoping.



In an unrelated note, I'm off to a sushi restaurant in the next hour lol. Have a good night, guys


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

My nitrates on my SW was over 100 before and no issue. With FW though, nitrate usually means a little bit of ammonia spike for me.

Yep, I heard the theory of shaking the filter in old tank water. As to cleaning filter, I don't do it often. When time comes, I blast my foam inserts and media with a garden hose. My filter cleaning seldom coincide with my WC (so no tank water to wash them in) - less shock to the system  I know I am not up to the same standard of the forum but my casualty is relatively low.

As to detergent. I once caught a room mate who was actually a nurse (male) not rinsing the dishes after washing with detergent. I freaked  He asserted that he was raised that way - he was certainly not skinny to say the least !

Your friend may be more extreme than I would like. May be the immune system of his fish is super strong now. You will really have to try hard to kill them  At least for the next few weeks, I sure they think they are in fish heaven.


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