Routine Maintenance for Freshwater Aquariums by Robert Hedley
If you want your aquarium to be a success, you must perform routine maintenance. Fish, like any other living creatures, produce waste both through respiration and excrement. Since an aquarium is such a limited environment, this waste has nowhere to go. You must get it out yourself on a regular basis.
Freshwater Aquarium maintenance needs to be done usually every day, and then every 2 weeks or every month. Every few years, youâ??ll need some major overhauls. Depending on the type of fish tank you get though, you may not need to clean it so often.
Some tanks, like biorb fish tanks, require 5 minute maintenance every month, but you still have to check on it every day. You mainly check just to see how the fish are behaving â?? if you notice reduced activity, it could be a warning that toxins are accumulating and you need to get cleaning.
Letâ??s look at what you need to do for each of the routines:
1. Daily freshwater Aquarium Maintenance
You need to do the following every day:
â?¢ Check your fish for signs of disease or illness. We already mentioned that decreased activity is the first sign.
â?¢ Check if there is any fish thatâ??s getting picked on â?? it will be rather quiet and hidden away.
â?¢ Check the swimming pattern â?? frantic or lethargic swimming could be a sign that something is out of order.
â?¢ Check if they have eaten their food â?? lots of leftovers could be a sign that the water is toxic and is contaminating the food.
â?¢ Check the lights to make sure theyâ??re working and the filters too. Have a look at your Aquarium Thermometer to make sure the temperature is right.
â?¢ Lastly, feed the fish.
If any fish are not behaving normally, they should be taken out of the tank and put in another tank by itself â?? it could be contagious.
2. Weekly and Bi-weekly freshwater aquarium maintenance
Every week or couple of weeks depending on the kind of tank you have, do the following after taking out your fish:
â?¢ Change the water in your tank. You can change just a quarter to a third of it. The frequency of water change depends on the kind of fish that you keep â?? some require more cleaning after.
â?¢ Suction your substrate â?? there are lots of food particles that are caught in substrate. There are substrate cleaning devices available in your pet store. If you canâ??t get one, put the substrate in a bucket and run water over it.
â?¢ Use an aquarium scrubber to scrub the inside of The Aquarium and the lid. Also give the outside a good wipe.
â?¢ Rinse out filters as the instruction manual says and make sure that you take out all dirt.
â?¢ If your aquarium plants have overgrown, trim them.
â?¢ Check pH levels using you pH test kit.
â?¢ Check your supplies to make sure that they can last you till the next time you plan to re-stock.
3. 3 to 4 year freshwater aquarium maintenance
As you can imagine, this one is major. It will need you to replace a few things and it will take a few hours to do it:
â?¢ Get a 2nd temporary tank and put a third of the water and the fish in it.
â?¢ Clean the inside of the aquarium using brine (salt and water).
â?¢ If you can afford it, replace the substrate. If you canâ??t, wash the substrate that you have with brine.
â?¢ Before you put everything back in, check your aquarium for any damage or wear and tear that may have occurred over the years. If the seams look like they are giving way, use some sealant and make sure itâ??s completely dry.
â?¢ Using your pH test kit, test the salinity of the water you put your fish in.
â?¢ Arrange your substrate and plants back in tank and then put the fish back in.
There are some Do Nots when it comes to freshwater aquarium maintenance:
â?¢ Never use soap or detergents of any kind on your fish tank or any of its accessories. It will harm your fish. If you need to scrub anything, use salt â?? itâ??s a good and harmless abrasive.
â?¢ If you have an acrylic tank, watch out not to scratch it during cleaning. These kinds of tanks come with their own special cleaning materials.
â?¢ Always let your heater cool down before you pull it out of the water.
â?¢ Unless your tank is preconditioned, never fill it with totally fresh water â?? it will take time to go through the entire process that supplies the special environment for the fish tank during which period your fish can die. Keep a bit of the old and mix it in with the fresh. If itâ??s too dirty, go to the pet store and get some already conditioned water.
â?¢ Sponge filters do ok if you rinse with just water.
No matter if youâ??re a beginner, if you follow these freshwater aquarium maintenance tips, your aquarium will be healthy and you fish will be happy.
About the Author
Robert is an experienced aquarist, who owns and maintains his and other people’s aquariums. For more great tips on freshwater aquarium maintenance, visit http://www.freshwater-aquariumsecrets.com
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