How To Clean Your Aquarium
January 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Fish Tank Cleaning
As a responsible pet owner of course you want to provide your fish with the best
environment you possibly can, and you want to be certain you keep your tropical
fish tank as clean as possible. After all this is the home for the fish and
where they’ll live out the rest of their days, but they need to rely on you to
maintain it, clean it, keep it warm, and everything else that’s needed for that
home to be safe and sanitary. It’s not that hard to keep tropical fish tanks
clean and healthy but you should follow some rules that will allow you to do just that.
Be certain not to use any harsh cleansers, chemicals or abrasives when cleaning
tropical fish tanks because this may cause severe damage to your fish. Chemicals
and bleach always leave a residue no matter how much you rinse and these things
are very bad for your fish. If there are algae stuck to the side you can use a
razor or straight edge on glass tanks or a special cleansing cloth for tropical
fish tanks as this is the best way to keep your tank nice and clean.
You should use a special vacuum to clean the substrate or gravel on the bottom
of tropical fish tanks. This type of vacuum will get any harmful buildup and
bacteria without needing to remove and upset the entire collection of gravel,
which is never a good idea. Some people make the mistake of thinking that the
entire tank needs to be emptied and everything cleaned but this isn’t safe for
the fish as it wipes out the entire water of the tank.
Doing a water change is also important when cleaning tropical fish tanks. For large tanks you simply pull out about 10%-15% of the
water and replace it with warm tap water; for smaller tanks you’ll need to do
this with about 25% of the water. Always add a water condition afterward and you
can find these most anywhere that tropical fish tanks are sold.
It’s just as important not to over clean your tropical fish tanks as it is to
clean them periodically. Don’t over clean them as this can cause as much damage
to the fish as not cleaning it enough.
