Aquarium Maintenance
When maintaining an aquarium a few factors will determine how much work you need to do.
If your aquarium is heavily stocked and you feed the fish a lot then, you will need to do more maintenance than an aquarium with a few fish and less food going into the aquarium.
It is advisable to do a 10% water change every week and use RO water if possible. Otherwise you can buy a liquid solution that will neutralize the harmful chemicals in tap water.
It is advisable to do a 10% water change every week and use RO water if possible. Otherwise you can buy a liquid solution that will neutralize the harmful chemicals in tap water.
If your aquarium is heavily stocked then you will need to change the water more frequently and the filter will need cleaning on a regular basis to avoid it getting clogged up.
It is a good idea to clean the front of the glass once per week along with the water change to avoid too much disruption to the fish. Playing around in the aquarium on a regular basis can stress the fish so it is best to do as much in one sitting as possible.
Once you get into the routine cleaning the aquarium is not difficult at all. The problems really occur if you have unhealthy or dying fish because you then need to change a lot of the water (up to 50%) and check the water chemistry on a regular basis until the preferred water conditions return.
Many hobbyists will do a water chemistry check every week to make sure certain levels like ammonia, PH and nitrite are not too high. On the other hand some people will just make sure they perform a water change every week, clean the filter every month and clean the tank glass every week, and only do water chemistry checks when things are not looking right.
You will quickly become used to the behavior of your fish and it will become obvious if something is not right with the water when the fish starts acting differently. So as part of your maintenance you should spend a few minutes each day looking at your fish and making sure they have no skin conditions or injuries. If you have opted for a tropical heated aquarium or a tropical aquarium then you should also check the water temperature daily. Many aquariums have two heaters in them so that if one heater stops working the other heater will keep the water at the correct temperature. Most heaters come with a light on them to show when they are heating the aquarium. So if water temperature is dropping and the heater is not turning itself on then you know it is time to buy a new heater.
