Cleaning your aquarium is vital not only for a crystal clear view inside, but also for the health of your fish. for proper aquarium maintenance, cleaning should be done about once a month and while this might seem like an arduous task, once you have it down to a routine it really won't take you that long at all.
The first thing you want to do is unplug all be electric gizmos such as the heaters, filters, lights and anything else you have plugged in. Don't remove your fish from the tank, as it can be very shocking to them and you will not be removing all the water or using soaps or harsh chemicals anyway. in fact, cleaning your aquarium or consists mainly of scrubbing and vacuuming.
While I find it easier to scrub out the tank once I have vacuumed out some of the water, this does have a downside because now you are introducing more algae into the water when there is less water to dilute it and this may not be so good for your fish. So the next two steps can be done in any order you wish.
Vacuuming the aquarium is important because you need to get out all the rotting food and waste at the bottom of the tank as well as change out the water. To vacuum the tank, you'll need a special gizmo that has a large round tube at one and with plastic tubing coming out. The large round tube goes into the tank and this is what you use as the vacuum the other hand is into either the sink or a bucket and this is where the water comes out. to start siphoning the water and vacuuming you have to create a siphon with the vacuum tube and I usually do this by dipping it in some of the water and then holding upside down to get the water flowing than putting it right back into the water to continue the suction. Once you've accomplished this, you simply go about vacuuming the bottom by putting the tube on top of the gravel. I like to stir the gravel up a bit to get all of the debris that has settled down into it. Be careful not to get too carried away though as you only want to siphon out about 25% of the water
Once you have done the vacuuming, it's time to do the scrubbing. you'll need to have a special sponge that is made for scrubbing algae and if you have an acrylic tank be sure to get one that will not damage the acrylic. .You want to scrub all the algae off the sides of the tank and any decorations in the tank as well as the filters and tubes for the filters and heaters and whatnot that go down into the tank.
Now you need to replace the water. Be sure to use dechlorinated water that is at the same temperature as the water in the tank. Adding water that is too hot or too cold will cause a large fluctuation in the aquarium water temperature which can be harmful to your fish. Be sure to use a water conditioner made specifically for aquariums before adding the water to the tank. This might be a good time to get out your test kit and check the aquarium water to be sure it has the right levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
Cleaning your aquarium doesn't have to be a big job. In fact, you can make it a little easier on yourself by taking care to not overfeed to fish, and by buying a Chinese Algae Eater that will help you scrub the algae that accumulates on the sides of the tank and the decorations. No matter what, however, you will want to periodically change out the water to make sure you are providing the best quality environment for your fish.
Maintaining an aquarium can be an ongoing task but you can lighten the load of little bit by buying fish and other creatures that you part of the work for you. These fish are scavengers that feed on the any food on the bottom of the crater rim as well as the algae. When buying these kinds of fish you need to be careful of the kind that you buy us some can exist peacefully with your other fish while others will attack them.
One of the toughest problems In maintaining a tank is keeping the algae growth down. Luckily there are fish that actually eat the algae keeping the tank clean for you!
The Chinese algae eater can eat in a normal salon of algae and attach themselves to the flat surfaces of your tank and decorations scraping algae off. The Chinese algae eater can become aggressive when he becomes an adult and may even attack larger fish so they are great having a tank when they are young, but not so good when they're adults.
The flying fox or trunk barb each LG and also will eat the leftover food at the bottom of the tank. They shouldn't be put in with a similar species though as they can become territorial.
If you want a shy and peaceful fish that is a good community member and also each algea then you could try getting a catfish for your aquarium.
Snails are another fish tank creature that eats algae but they'll go for the plants first so if you have live plants in your tank you might not want to add snails. Apple snails might be a good idea because they prefer the LG over the plants however you may find them feeding on sleeping fish! another thing to keep in mind is that snails reproduce pretty quickly so if you don't want a tank full of snails by only one.
Sometimes live plants have snail eggs are ready on them. I once put a plant in my tank and low and behold all of a sudden I had tons of teeny tiny snails - and I mean tons! If this happens to you and you want to get rid of them think about buying a loach. Loaches eat snails and they also eat algae so you can kill two birds with one stone. Sucker loaches, however, made a bit of the fish when they grow to be adults.
cleaner shrimp can help with Tank maintenance. Bumblebee shrimp will eat leftover food enough help keep down algae growth In the tank but you have to be careful to provide them with other food as well. These shrimp are only about an Inch long and relatively harmless to your other fish. Ghost charm will eat both algae and the food at the bottom of the tank too but they also might eat small fresh and may get to the fish food before your fish can even eat it as collection point!
If you have any saltwater aquarium, then getting a couple of crowds might be a great way to cut down on algae. Hermit crabs who eat algae as well as the food that sells on the bottom of the aquarium. Keep in mind, however, that you must buy crabs that don't grow larger than an inch as big crabs might kill your fish. Emerald green crabs and need Mithrax crabs might be good for saltwater tank. Sally Lightfoot crabs eat hair algae and bubble algae and are also very peaceful creatures.
So there you have it, some creatures to add interest to your tank as well as help you clean it!
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