One of the most important things that you can do for your freshwater aquarium is maintain it and keep it clean! Of course, with our busy lives, we want to know what's most important in maintaining our freshwater aquarium, and how do we do it quickly. Following is a list of the top 5 most important things you'll need to do to keep your tank in tip-top shape. Write these down on your calendar. It's really not that hard, especially if you do them at about the same time every month.
Vacuum - Weekly
Use a gravel vacuum to suck out the waste, toxins and old food at the bottom of your aquarium. Aquarium vacuums are really great for cleaning up waster material and come in all sorts of different sizes and shapes depending on the size of your tank. They all operate a little differently, so check the instructions that come with them. They are all really easy to use. Use the dirty water that you've vacuumed from the bottom of your tank and put it on your garden. There's nothing like fish fertilizer to give your garden a boost.
Change Water - Weekly
Change your aquarium water every week if possible, but you can even go every other week. You'll only need to replace about 20% of your tank's water. The best way to do this is to siphon the water out. Get a hose or aquarium tubing, put one end of the hose into your tank, and suck the air out from the other end of the hose. Be sure to have a pail ready, because the water will come flowing out. Just let the water from the hose flow into the pail until you've got about 20% of the water removed from your tank. Then add new water. Check with your local fish store to find out what you'll need to add to the new water that you put back into your tank. Depending upon your area, you may want additives to remove chlorine and other chemicals from your tap water. Some people let the new water sit for 24 hours to remove chemicals from it before they add it to their aquarium.
Remove Algae - Monthly
Nothing looks worse than algae growing on the sides of your tank. And nothing looks better than a clear aquarium, the better to see your fish through. You can buy algae scrapers and other tools to remove the algae from your tank. They're really easy to use. Just find one that you like the best and use it religiously. But, my favorite algae remover is the "algae eater". It's a special kind of sucker-type fish that looks really neat and he's really good at cleaning up the algae because that's what he eats! His real name is "plecostomus" and you can find him at lots of fish shops. They're really fun to watch, too.
Test Water - Monthly (after first two months, when established)
When your tank's first set up, be sure to check the pH of the aquarium water every few days. Get a test kit at your local fish store. After that, check the water weekly for the first two months. After two months, you can check the water monthly, unless your fish are showing abnormal behavior. Then check again.
Change Filter - Check filter instructions
There are so many aquarium filters on the market today. So the only advice here is to check the instructions and they will tell you how often to change your filter. Sometimes it's every 3 to 4 weeks for disposable power filters. And sometimes it's every 6 months. Some you can clean yourself, so just keep an eye on them and clean them when you see they're dirty.
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