cleaning the tank

how often should i clean the tank and what should i use?

put all fish in a cup and take tank to car wash!! here is what i do. i do a 30% water change at least once a week to keep water quality good. every other water change i do gravel vac. that keeps the poo from getting too bad and reduces nitrates. and get a magnet cleaner to keep algea from getting to bad.

You never tear down the tank for cleaning unless you had a serious issue with disease.
The only 'cleaning' you should need to do is gravel vac and water changes and rinse your filter media in old tank water not tap water it will kill your bacteria.
If your tank is planted you dont need to do as much but you do have to get all the dead leaves out so they dont foul your water.

i sometimes do a 50% water change if it has not been cleaned at it normal schedualed change every 2 weeks.

I do a partial water change in all my tanks once a week as follows:
30 gal = 25% water change
20 gal = 30% water change (because I have a Blood Parrot cichlid in it, she has more waste, hence more water changed)
10 gal = 25-30% water change (I go higher during summer when tank tends to be warmer, hence more waste in tank)
3 gal betta tanks = 50% water change (bettas need CLEAN tanks, mine have mini filters but still need to keep their water clean clean clean).

Check your ammonia levels mid week to see if everything is okay in that area.

I clean my 25% of the gravel with every water change; it just keeps everything in balance. And honestly, its very easy to do while changing the water.

I found that having "working" fish (ie algae eaters, snails, loaches-to keep snail population in check, and ghost shrimp) that cleaning my tank has become SO much easier, and less time consuming. I may have to clean my smooth rocks once a month. But the workers in the tank have been keeping the caves and bigger rocks pretty clean, and the walls of the tanks are virtually spotless (I use the magnet on the spots that my algae eater misses right before I do the water change and use a razor for any stubborn algae on the back of the tank if it accumulates quicker than he can eat it).

The only problem I have been experiencing with this routine is one of my amazon sword plants has acquired some black algae. But that tank has incandescent lighting and the bulb wattage was too high, thus allowing more algae to grow. I changed the bulbs to CFL's at a lower wattage. Been pruning the plant a little at a time, and the new growth isn't showing any algae growth. Plus my Mollies and gourami have been snacking on the algae in the older leaves.

As long as you don't over feed or over stock (both of which I am guilty of doing in the past...until I learned the hard way with having to change water too often and cleaning lots of algae of caves and such) you should be fine with doing partial water changes on a weekly basis, and cleaning gravel bi-weekly. The filter should be changed monthly (again granted you are not over feeding or over stocking your tank) and basic housecleaning of ornaments and equipment (ie algae on heater, tank walls, air stones and tubing, etc etc) needs to be done whenever you notice that they are getting dirty, and should only be cleaned off with the tank water you just changed. I buy cheap toothbrushes at the dollar store and use them to scrub the caves with.

And when/if you have to do a complete breakdown due to outbreak of disease, use a 1 to 9 ratio of bleach water to clean the tank and ornaments. NO SOAP or CLEANERS. I have used baking soda or vinegar to get tough spots clean. Soap and cleaners may not rinse off completely and will kill your fish!