37 gallon freshwater tank maintence

have had the tank up and running with 6 fish in it for about 3 weeks now? What are some maintence things that need done. I know about changing about 20% water, and the filter insert every month. What about vacuuming the gravel (thinking about getting a hagan marina easy vacuum), and what about cleaning the walls of the aquarium ( a friend told me to get a mag float cleaner for this). Now if the aquaruim walls dont look dirty should I still do them? Also ?need to know some of the better quality test kits? thanks for your time.

 

If you have 6 fish in your tank and its 3 weeks old you need to be testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily. I would go buy freshwater api test kits for these and test daily. If your ammonia or nitrite get above .25 (which I imagine they are) you need to do a 10% water change. Don't over do it because this could stress the fish and shock the tank possibly killing any beneficial bacteria that you have built up to now. I would prob do no more than 10% a day if your levels are higher than .25% when you test. Also changing out the filter insert every month Ive never done..maybe every 3 or more but just a simple rinse in a bucket with fresh chlorine free water and reinsert it.

Once your ammonia and nitrites drop to zero you'll start seeing nitrates spike up. Stick with a monthly or bi-weekly waterchange at this point and continue to vacuum your gravel and clean the glass with a mag float. Good luck!

 

just got a api test kit tonight. The readings came back at
ph 7.6,amonia a bit above .25, nitrates 0 and nitrites 0. What is my next step, according to the guide, for a tropical community tank ph should be near 7.0.

 

If your ammonia is still at .25 and nitrites haven't spiked yet you are still early in your cycle. I would just monitor ammonia and nitrites for the time being and keep them at or below .25. As far as your ph goes anything between 7 and 8 should be fine for freshwater.

 

yeah what kind of fish are they? depending if they are heavy on bioload you may have to either a. clean out ur filter pad more than once a month or b. change it twice a month..i had that problem

 

so far 3 glofish, 3 red/blue tetras, and a plectomus(alge sucker).

 

What kind of filter are you running?

 

actually lost pleco last week. Ive got the filter that came with the tank, an aqueon 30, and went out and got a Aquaclear 70. Both filters run all the time and are on opposite ends of the tank. The guy at the LFS told me not to try to adjust anything yet, it will just take a few weeks to months to balance out. Said the PH would spike and then slowly settle to where it should be. Also if I tried to change levels this early I could mess with the cycle and prolong it. So far no trouble with any of the other fish.