For most beginners who plan to set up their brand new aquarium, the thought of cleaning the tank rarely crosses their mind.
One common delusion about keeping fish in an aquarium is that all you have to do is set up your aquarium with nice decoration, a good filter and pretty little fish and all you ever have to do after that is just feed the little pets.
It is only when the sight of the water turning green or thick muck begins to accumulate at the base of the tank that panic would begin to set in.
But cleaning a fish tank isn't actually all that hard.
What you should do is to roster some time for regular maintenance.
The tasks that you need to do can be divided into daily, weekly and monthly jobs, separated into minor tasks that will not tire you too much or take up a whole lot of your time.
I will be guiding you on the task of cleaning an aquarium the right way in this article.
You Mean There Is A Wrong Way? You bet there is.
The wrong way, which sadly a number of sites on the internet actually teach, is to remove all the fish and plants, throw away the water, wash the aquarium deco and gravel and put everything back in with fresh water.
After keeping an aquarium for a while, it will grow colonies of beneficial bacteria which are important for healthy aquatic life.
If you clean the aquarium too thoroughly, it will kill off the beneficial bacteria colonies and eliminate good biological filtration.
Another important tip is, never use household detergent when cleaning your aquarium or other decorations and parts that you will place back into the water.
These detergents leave chemical residue that are harmful to the fish, plants and bacteria.
The Right Way To Clean Your Tank It doesn't matter how efficient is your filter, a great idea is to schedule a weekly cleaning session.
Here are the things you will need to do: 1) Water Change: An important task if you want your fish to be healthy.
Your fish tank water may look clean but it is still vital to introduce fresh water into the tank.
Use de-chlorinated water, never use water straight from the tap.
A simple idea is to allow a bucket of water to sit for a day before putting it into the tank.
On a weekly basis, only change 20% of the water, never more than that.
Here's what you do: Siphon out 20% of the water from the aquarium into a separate bucket.
We will be using this water so don't throw it away.
Fill the fish tank with fresh water.
2) Vacuum The Gravel: You can either buy a special vacuum for aquariums or a simple idea is to bring the hose inlet close to the gravel when you are siphoning out the water.
Try to get as much of the muck that has accumulated as possible but it doesn't really have to be so thorough.
Once you do this regularly each week, there won't be that much muck after all.
3) Turn Off Everything: Practice safety.
Switch off everything that is connected to electricity such as the heater, filter and lights.
No matter how safe they say the equipment may be, never take the risk.
4) Wash Aquarium Parts: Use the water that you siphoned out earlier to wash all the decorations or parts that are slimy.
The reason we do not use tap water for this is because there may be colonies of beneficial bacteria on these items that will be killed by the chlorine from tap water.
These simple weekly tasks will not take more than half an hour and will guarantee that the aquatic life in your fish tank remain healthy and vibrant for a long time.
One common delusion about keeping fish in an aquarium is that all you have to do is set up your aquarium with nice decoration, a good filter and pretty little fish and all you ever have to do after that is just feed the little pets.
It is only when the sight of the water turning green or thick muck begins to accumulate at the base of the tank that panic would begin to set in.
But cleaning a fish tank isn't actually all that hard.
What you should do is to roster some time for regular maintenance.
The tasks that you need to do can be divided into daily, weekly and monthly jobs, separated into minor tasks that will not tire you too much or take up a whole lot of your time.
I will be guiding you on the task of cleaning an aquarium the right way in this article.
You Mean There Is A Wrong Way? You bet there is.
The wrong way, which sadly a number of sites on the internet actually teach, is to remove all the fish and plants, throw away the water, wash the aquarium deco and gravel and put everything back in with fresh water.
After keeping an aquarium for a while, it will grow colonies of beneficial bacteria which are important for healthy aquatic life.
If you clean the aquarium too thoroughly, it will kill off the beneficial bacteria colonies and eliminate good biological filtration.
Another important tip is, never use household detergent when cleaning your aquarium or other decorations and parts that you will place back into the water.
These detergents leave chemical residue that are harmful to the fish, plants and bacteria.
The Right Way To Clean Your Tank It doesn't matter how efficient is your filter, a great idea is to schedule a weekly cleaning session.
Here are the things you will need to do: 1) Water Change: An important task if you want your fish to be healthy.
Your fish tank water may look clean but it is still vital to introduce fresh water into the tank.
Use de-chlorinated water, never use water straight from the tap.
A simple idea is to allow a bucket of water to sit for a day before putting it into the tank.
On a weekly basis, only change 20% of the water, never more than that.
Here's what you do: Siphon out 20% of the water from the aquarium into a separate bucket.
We will be using this water so don't throw it away.
Fill the fish tank with fresh water.
2) Vacuum The Gravel: You can either buy a special vacuum for aquariums or a simple idea is to bring the hose inlet close to the gravel when you are siphoning out the water.
Try to get as much of the muck that has accumulated as possible but it doesn't really have to be so thorough.
Once you do this regularly each week, there won't be that much muck after all.
3) Turn Off Everything: Practice safety.
Switch off everything that is connected to electricity such as the heater, filter and lights.
No matter how safe they say the equipment may be, never take the risk.
4) Wash Aquarium Parts: Use the water that you siphoned out earlier to wash all the decorations or parts that are slimy.
The reason we do not use tap water for this is because there may be colonies of beneficial bacteria on these items that will be killed by the chlorine from tap water.
These simple weekly tasks will not take more than half an hour and will guarantee that the aquatic life in your fish tank remain healthy and vibrant for a long time.
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