Thursday, September 24, 2015

What You Should Know About Aquarium Maintenance

By Della Monroe


You are required to do maintenance of fish tanks on a regular basis. For those with fish tanks, they are bound to get untidy after some time due to the activity of various organisms inside. Water will also need to be topped up because some will have evaporated. A schedule for the maintenance will be required that guides your activities. With aquarium maintenance the tank will not have to get broken down whenever maintenance is done.

The tank needs to be cleaned every 2 weeks or so. It would even be ideal to do the cleaning even weekly so that subsequent cleanups do not require much effort. Every time cleaning is done, about 20 percent of water should be replaced. An algae scrubber should be used for scraping algae off the front and sides of the tank. In the case of acrylic aquariums, the acrylic should not be scratched.

Before water is added into the tank, you will need to add the right amount of chemicals that remove chlorine from the water. You will also need to add water of the same temperature so that fish are not affected. In case of high temperature swings, fish will be stressed. Water that is added to the tank needs to be of the right chemical composition so that there is not effect to fish. There should not be addition of chemicals that will negatively affect fish.

If the aquarium has saltwater, you will need to have the right water ready some one day before the replacement. This is because freshly mixed saltwater will be toxic to fish. Some time is required to allow all the salt mix to dissolve well. For this purpose, most people use new and clean 5-gallon rubber trash cans or buckets. The concentration should be closely monitored so that it is not excess.

One of the most important components is the filter. The filter needs replacement once after every three or four weeks depending on the condition of the tank. When the filter is changed regularly, maintenance will not be stressful. It is also possible that rust will develop around connections with filter or inlets of water. These should be monitored.

You will need to closely monitor the growth of algae. If the growth is not well controlled, there will be what is known as eutrophication which is the situation where there is excessive growth of the organisms. When this happens, there will be lack of oxygen within the tank. The result of this is that fish will suffocate and die because of lack of enough air.

For the best control of algae, you may have to introduce a type of fish that consume them into the tank. They are known as the sucker fish. Though they are not very good looking, it is an effective way to control algae. It is also cost effective. The other option is to keep the tank away from the sun.

When doing change of water, you will need to use water conditioners. They will help in the removal of chlorine. In addition to that, there will also be the removal of such impurities as excess ammonia.




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