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After your tank is established, you must consider how and when you will do maintenance on your new pet project. Sure, it has finished cycling and because you have been monitoring your chemical levels very closely you know that everything is where it should be. But yet, it just doesn’t look right. Is the water cloudy? Is there algae all over the sides and on the rocks? Is the water level not where you left it 3 days ago. This is the time for some routine aquarium care. Fish tank maintenance can sometimes be a bother for hobbyists, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Develop a schedule for carrying out these aquarium maintenance tasks and it will make this hobby more enjoyable..
It’s important to note that you don’t need to completely break down the tank every time you have to “clean your tank”. Most of the time you will just need to perform a partial water change (20 percent or so) with a good gravel vacuuming and maybe scrape a little algae off the front viewing panel. If you have a major algae problem then something is out of whack. You may be feeding too much, your tank may be overstocked, you’re not performing frequent enough water changes, you’re feeding the wrong types of foods, etc.
There are some basic pieces of equipment you will need in order to do your routine maintenance. Some items that you will need are:
- Aquarium Glass Scrubber
- Aquarium Vacuum
- 5-gallon bucket
- Some type of vacuum pump like the Python Vacuum System
- Plenty of paper towels and
- Good lighting
Outlined below are a few steps that you will need to do to assure that your aquarium is getting the attention it deserves.
- First, develop an aquarium maintenance schedule. You will want to clean your fish tank at least once every 2 weeks. Once a week would be even better to take care of your fish tank and it will be easier each time you clean.
- Test your water. This is especially important if you have let the water changes get behind schedule. If the pH or the salinity (for Marine Aquariums) is way out of normal limits, you will need to do a series of smaller, more frequent changes until the levels are at least at a tolerable level. Remember, even if the chemicals are way out of whack, making large changes can be more harmful than the chemicals themselves. The fish have had a chance to accommodate to the higher levels and will not be able to adjust fast enough to the new water chemistry. Small changes in chemical levels is always best.
- Clean your fish tank. Once you have developed a cleaning schedule, stick to it. Consistency is the key to aquarium maintenance. Use your algae scrubber to scrape any algae off the front and maybe the sides of the tank. For acrylic aquariums, make sure that you won’t scratch the acrylic with whatever you’re using to clean the sides. Some use an old credit card for acrylic tanks. Do not use razor blades as this will scratch the glass and/or the acrylic surfaces. Turn off, or better yet, unplug the power filter. This will prevent any electrical shocks and will prevent the filter from becoming clogged with the excess debris.
- Once the sides are clean, you can vacuum the gravel and any flat areas for any loose debris that you may have removed from the tank walls. This is always a good time to do that partial water change. Each time you clean your aquarium you will need to replace about 15% – 20% of the water so as to keep the naturally occurring nutrients at optimal levels and to remove those pesky nitrates that have developed as a result of waste breakdown.
- Next, check out the filter media (i.e. filter floss). If the filter media needs cleaning, you can rinse it in some of the discarded tank water. This filter media will have loads of the beneficial bacteria needed for the aquarium nitrogen cycle and rinsing it in tap water with chlorine and/or chloramines can kill some of the bacteria, so use tank water.
- Now it’s time to refill aquarium with de-chlorinated water. Always treat the new water with the necessary amount of chemicals that will remove the chlorine and chloramines from the incoming water. Try to add water that is the same temperature as you tank water. High temperature swings would be very stressful for your tropical fish. Take case when adding new saltwater to the marine tanks.
For Saltwater aquariums you will want to have the mixture ready to go at least the day before you plan on doing water changes. Freshly mixed saltwater can be fairly toxic to fish and you need to allow a day or so to allow the salt mix to properly dissolve. You can use new or very, clean 5-gallon buckets or rubber trash cans for this purpose. Mix up the salt, pop in a powerhead and maybe a heater and you have saltwater ready for when you need it.
- Once a week, clean out the skimmer collection cup, scrape off any salt creep back into the tank if possible. Clean the hood but don’t scrape the salt back into the aquarium as you did with the skimmer. The hood will contain dust and outer debris collected from the surrounding environment.
- Lastly, clean the outside of the tank with a soft cloth and water or some type of non-toxic cleaner.
Aquarium maintenance is extremely important not only for the survival of the fish and other aquarium inhabitance, but for your continued enjoyment. Staying on top of those water changes should increase the health of your fish. Frequent cleaning will make it look nicer and after all, that it what we all enjoy the most.