There are many doubts when it comes to cleaning your aquarium so as not to harm the fish. Learn how to keep your fish tank clean with the appropriate care.
When buying an animal, as we well know, we must mainly worry about its health when deciding to keep it at home. Fish are perhaps the animals to which we should devote the least care since we do not need to open a booklet for them at the vet. But it is true that being aquatic animals, they are more complex to care for and further from our conscience because they have completely different metabolisms.
That is why the habitat of the fish we keep in a fish tank is completely different from ours and also different from what they are used to. For these reasons, their well-being is a constant mystery for us. But there is no need to worry because if we carry out proper maintenance and cleaning in their aquarium, our animals will live for a long time healthy and possibly happy.
Aquarium cleaning process
To keep an aquarium clean, it is not enough to change the water in the container from time to time, but it does not mean having to clean the gravel from the surface of the aquarium one by one. As we well know, water is the medium in which these little ones live, breathe, and move, and therefore food residues and waste accumulate, which, in abundance, disturb their well-being.
It is recommended to clean an aquarium once a month
– Empty some of the water from the fish tank, but only a small percentage. Remove 20% of the total amount of water. Do not remove more water, otherwise the fish will notice a sudden change in their environment. Do this once a week.
– Prepare the new water you are going to use in a clean container that has not been recently cleaned with detergents or soaps, since these – being difficult to remove completely – are toxic to fish. When setting aside the water, choose water without minerals because they are not good for them either, so forget about tap water and prepare it before the cleaning process so that the water can rest and the few minerals it has are eliminated.
– After removing the water, prepare to clean the aquarium: use a specially made algae scraper to clean the glass of the fish tank, forgetting about detergents and soap. Remove any objects from the tank and clean them with water and 10% bleach, then rinse them thoroughly with plenty of water. Then let them air dry, so that any chlorine residue will be removed.
– Then clean the stones with a siphon, since the waste that needs to be removed is hidden in the lower part of the fish tank, mixed with the gravel. Place the siphon at the end of the fish tank and remove the soil while you pour the hose down the other side, which will pour the absorbed waste into another container.
– Finally, pour the fresh water prepared earlier into the aquarium, but first make sure that it is at the same temperature as the water inside the container. Then, as soon as the previously cleaned decorative objects are dry, place them inside as well.
Care that an aquarium needs
When it comes to decorating the place where our fish will live, we don’t limit ourselves to buying a container that only contains water. We usually also buy elements such as gravel, plants, and corals for decoration, stones, logs, and objects such as chests or other utensils that give our aquarium an original and unique touch.
You should never remove the fish to clean the aquarium.
First of all, take into account the water level, since it may have been reduced by the filter that we must have in it, which cleans it by constantly absorbing waste. This filter may have eliminated water content in the fish tank, so you may need to add more. On the other hand, check that there is no residue in this same filter that obstructs it or the aerator.
Water temperature is also an element to take into account. If your aquarium has its own light – which by the way is recommended to be left on for about 12 hours a day – or if the weather simply changes and your house is colder or warmer, it is very reliable to always check the aquarium thermometer, another essential element that you should have. This way you will be sure that your fish remain in their habitat without any obstacles.
Tips and Suggestions
All the above-mentioned cares are mainly aimed at ensuring that our fish live in perfect harmony and comfort. As we have seen above, the process of cleaning a fish tank is not simple, but it is not hard either. If cleaning the aquarium becomes a regular task for you, you will see your fish grow up healthy and safe.
You should also know that it is not a good idea to clean it every two days, since if we make sudden changes in the water quality we would end up disturbing the fish too much. For this reason, we advise you to carry out most of the careful cleaning steps explained in the previous section once a month.
As for the filter mentioned above, clean it two weeks after having thoroughly cleaned the rest. To also know the state of the water in which our fish live, it is good to perform a water test on a monthly basis to find out what its values are.