| A good aquarium is always clean. Well, not | | | | before replacing can save you a lot more money |
| sparkling clean, but clean enough for fish to stay | | | | in the long run. Remember, just clean once, twice |
| healthy and for you to appreciate the good, clean | | | | or thrice, and then replace the filter. This will |
| look of an aquarium. A fish tank gets dirty over | | | | maximize both cost and effectiveness. And oh, |
| time, for many reasons such as accumulated | | | | don't use any kind of soap or detergent while |
| waste materials, algae, and other materials such | | | | cleaning the filter. |
| as leftover food, etc. Although freshwater | | | | Clean the other articles of the aquarium |
| aquarium maintenance is quite tedious and has | | | | Decorations such as small corals and shells should |
| some very delicate procedures, getting used to | | | | be soaked in warm water mixed with a good |
| them can ensure that your aquarium can stay | | | | amount of salt. After soaking for a few minutes, |
| hygienic, and remain good health promoting and | | | | scrub away using a sponge to clean the excess |
| aesthetically pleasing to the eye for a long time. | | | | dirt off. Remember, NEVER use soap or any kind |
| Remove the old water | | | | of detergent. It's often difficult to rid an object of |
| The first thing that you have to do is to remove | | | | its soap content after washing it in 100%, and |
| the old water from the tank. Separate the fish | | | | even just tiny bits of soap can be lethal for your |
| from the main tank in a hospital tank for a while. | | | | fish. |
| If you have aquatic plants in your fish tank then | | | | Replace the water |
| you must include them in the hospital tank, and | | | | After cleaning all of the other articles, including the |
| remove all other objects inside the aquarium for | | | | tank itself, then it's time to replace the water. If |
| individual cleaning. | | | | your home tap water is already tested for its pH |
| Scrub away excess dirt and algae | | | | level, then you can start to fill the aquarium again |
| This can take a long time, depending on how well | | | | with water. Regulate the toxicity levels for a bit, |
| it was cleaned last time. But primarily, you'll have | | | | and afterwards, transfer the fishes and aquatic |
| to remove the dirt that was left after removing | | | | plants back into the main tank. Your aquarium is |
| everything else in the aquarium. If you are using | | | | now ready again for the next weeks to come! |
| acrylic tanks, it's better to use a soft sponge | | | | One last note to those clean freaks out there: |
| when removing the algae, so as not to scratch | | | | while it might be good that you clean the |
| the aquarium (otherwise, you'll have to use those | | | | aquarium regularly, it is not good to clean it very |
| algae pads). | | | | often. Constantly transferring the fish from one |
| Replace or clean the filter media of your filter | | | | container to another can stress them, so you |
| For cleanliness purposes, it's actually better to | | | | have to regulate the frequency of those |
| replace the filters than to just clean them, | | | | freshwater aquarium maintenance schedules, just |
| although cleaning the filters one or two times | | | | enough to keep them safe and healthy. |