A fish tank or aquarium can be a soothing and attractive feature of your home. Family members can relax by watching various fish swimming around the tank, and guests will admire this lovely addition of living things to your home. However, keep in mind that cleaning the tank is an important, inescapable duty associated with an aquarium.
Every time you clean an aquarium, you are putting your fish at risk. When you transfer your pets too much you will shock them, and they may die. When you clean the inside of the tank, it can damage the delicate ecological balance of their watery world. In your aquarium with an under gravel filter, all the fish droppings and uneaten food are pulled down into the gravel. There they should decompose, giving off ammonia and other byproducts that are poisonous to fish. But friendly bacteria develop in the gravel that feed on the ammonia and help keep it at a level that the fish can tolerate. It takes up to six weeks for these bacteria colonies to develop, but when you take your tank apart, you are destroying what took nature weeks to put together. Stock a fresh aquarium with just a few fish until these helpful little ammonia scavengers have a chance to get established. Then just leave them alone.
In an aquarium without an under gravel filter, you will want to vacuum the gravel with a tool like a hydro-clean. Replace a portion of the tank’s water once a month. A gravel vacuum siphons out some of the water while you use it to clean the sediment and debris from the gravel. That way you get two jobs done at once. Remove about a third of the water, and replace it with fresh water to keep the ammonia level down. You will have to dechlorinate the new water and adjust its temperature. Clean or replace the glass wool, charcoal, or anything else your instructions suggest about once a month. Algae growth does not harm the fish, but it will make your tank look dirty.
Wait a couple of months and then buy algae-eating fish. This will make a big difference in the appearance and hygiene of the water. Any algae that the fish might miss can be scrubbed from the tank with a long-handled brush. You also can use sponges and pads that are made for cleaning this. If you have a problem getting some of the algae off the tank, take a paint scraper and reach into the tank and clean it. All fittings can be taken off and cleaned in a gallon of water and three tablespoons of bleach. Be sure you air-dry the tank, and let the bleach dissipate before putting it back together. Keeping it out of the sunlight will help prevent algae from growing so much.
To clean the outside of the tank, use a spray-on glass cleaner that doesn’t contain ammonia. Wipe it dry with a cloth, and don’t spray anything on the inside. Then use aquarium polish, and go over the outside of the tank to hide any tiny scratches.
A clean aquarium will look better, smell better and keep your fish healthier. Take time to do a good job with this task so you can enjoy your small pets even more.
