# Best way to clean 1.5 gal tank



## lovemyfish (Feb 28, 2012)

Hi everyone.
I'm new to the forums. I have a 1.5 gal tank, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to clean it. Using a pump just sucks up too much of the water at a time. I don't have any gravel at the bottom of the tank, but what ends up happening is that I just have a lot of fish waste & uneaten fish food floating around. I have a whisper tank filter (1-3gals) but it only picks up a little (if any at all) of the debris. 

Should I get some gravel so that the waste doesn't "float" around? What would be the best way to clean the gravel for such a small tank (w/o removing the fish and taking out too MUCh of the water all at once). THANKS SO MUCH!


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Welcome to the forum! Could you give us a little more specifics about your tank. Is it cycled? What are its inhabitants? Ect. 

Have you considered getting a smaller pump/gravel vaccum? I have two different sized ones that I use for different sized tanks. The smallest diameter one is used to clean anything up to a 10 gal size. And the larger one I use to clean the 55 gal and 24 gal tanks.


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

Just to make sure, you did say 1.5 gallons right? Not 15 gallons...

In a 1.5 gallon I'm afraid you'll have to just do 100% water changes weekly, and a couple 50% changes between them (just use a cup to remove water). That size bowl is too small to hold a stable cycle.

What fish do you have in that? ... 1.5 gallons is really too small for anything.

Do you have a heater? Tropical fish need them. A goldfish dosen't, but they get far too large for that size bowl.

If there is food floating around, you are feeding too much. All food you add should be eaten within 5 minutes, if not you've added too much.


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## JouteiMike (Oct 7, 2006)

I'm glad to hear you have a small filter running on the tank! I'm guessing you keep a betta fish in there?

My advice is to just buy a cheap little net, like a small brine shrimp net, and use it to mechanically filter the large waste that floats around. If I were you, I wouldn't use a large pump to pump out the water like you mentioned; I would just use a small cup to remove water, and the same small cup to put new water in. With a tank as small as 1.5 gallons, it wouldn't take much time at all. And it would be completely up to you to put in gravel; although with such a small tank, I think it would be easiest to not add gravel.


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