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| Fig.1 Fish tank |
By Gary Boutin
Supplies and Tools:
Charcoal filter
Fish aquarium 3-gallons
Green biodegradable natural and safe soap
Hand scrubber or sponge
Kitchen sink with good faucet
Net or large clear cup
Laura's home is located in Hollywood, California.
Today, Laura called about cleaning her Betta fish tank. A small 3-gallon tank that has a dancing
Betta named James.
This post shows the eighteen steps to clean James (Betta) aquarium tank.
Step 1: Fig.1 and fig.2 shows that the water from the fish tank that needs to be replaced.
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| Fig.2 Dirty tank |
Step 2: Fig.3 shows the reason why the water needs
to be replaced. James the Betta just could not see any fish to fight, it
was OK for a little while but he could not even see the aquarium walls.
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| Fig.3 Full of particles |
Step 3: James the Betta would pop up is head and just take a quick breath and go back down
into the castle.
Step 4: Fig.4 shows James being removed from
his home. It's not like James jump into the clear glass. So I used a
clear glass the Mrs. H. kitchen cabinet and yes the glass went into the
dishwasher for cleaning.
Fig.5 shows the glass method is the best way not to
traumatize any fish, they stay in their water and after the aquarium is
clean then James and the old water will go into the clean tank. This is a tried and true method.
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Fig.4
Moving James |
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Fig.5 James
the Betta |
Step 5: In
Fig.6 show the removal of the air pump from the wall plug.
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| Fig.6 Unplug |
Step 6: Fig.7 and
fig.8 shows the sink which has the aquarium cover and the charcoal cover being washed in the sink. Later Mrs H. replaced the charcoal filter with a new one.
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| Fig.7 Sink |
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| Fig.8 Filter |
Step 7: Fig.9 shows next remove all of Jame's homes and his toys from his aquarium and place them into the sink for cleaning. The water and the rocks will need to be cleaned.
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| Fig.9 Rocks |
Step 8: Fig.10 shows the water has been removed and the rocks are in the process of being cleaned.
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| Fig.10 Clean rocks |
Step 9: Fig.11 and
fig.12 shows the aquarium rocks being cleaned by the kitchen faucet water.
Fig.12 the water is drained out of the aquarium. Now this starts the process of cleaning the aquarium rocks and the side walls. It will take about
eight complete processes to get the job done.
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| Fig.11 Aquarium rocks |
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| Fig.12 Rocks |
Step 10: After the aquarium rocks have been cleaned and smelled good the next step is to clean each items in the aquarium.
Fig.13 shows that there is a lot of algae all over the orange house. A
hand scrubber with
biodegradable soap is used not to leave any soap slime to the new tank.
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| Fig.13 Decorations |
Step 11: Also below in
fig.14 shows right shows a tan cave that James sometimes takes a nap before he gets ready to dance. Below the exterior and the interior of the cave was cleaned.
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| Fig.14 Cleaned |
Step 12: Now it's time to clean the castle.
Fig.15 shows how the castle was rinsed, and a hand scrubber was used to clean the interior and exterior.
Fig.16 show the castle is being rinsed under the tap.
Fig.17 shows the part is clean and ready to be placed into the cleaned aquarium.
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| Fig.15 Castle cleaned |
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| Fig.16 Front |
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| Fig.17 All cleaned |
Step 13: Now that the aquarium furniture has been cleaned the next step is to clean the charcoal filter container.
Step 14: Fig.18 and fig.19 shows the last step is to clean the air charcoal filter.
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| Fig.18 Filter |
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| Fig.19 Filter taken apart |
Step 15: Below left fig.20 shows the clear plastic tube that enters the aquarium. To clean the internal parts a white fabric was used to remove the algae from within the tube. Fig.21 shows the filter unit was placed back into the aquarium for use.
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| Fig.20 Clear tubing |
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| Fig.21 Filter unit |
Step 16: Fig.22 shows the last step before putting together the aquarium is to clean the plants. Once cleaned the plant will add a color to the aquarium and James will enjoy his new digs.
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| Fig.22 Clean plants |
Step 17: Don't forget to put in the chlorine drops into this tank, five to seven drops per gallon.
Step 18: The aquarium is now clean fig.23 shows the clear water and fig.24 shows a top view of James home. Fig.25 shows James is seen in the middle of the castle.
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| Fig.23 Happy aquarium |
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| Fig.24 Clean water |
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| Fig.25 James smiling |
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