Tropical Fish Tanks Maintenance Guide

Tropical aquariums Maintenance Guide

Proper maintenance of tropical aquariums involve doing some tasks you must perform daily, monthly, weekly, every two years and every year. Do these regularly and thoroughly will ensure good health for your fish and prevent major problems from occurring.

Daily schedule

The daily tasks associated with taking care of tropical fish tanks is simple. These are to check whether your fish are complete and sound, sight and remove dead fish and dead plant material and investigate temperature measurements of your heating and thermometer. The temperature measurements must match. Otherwise it may mean that there is something wrong with your radiator.

You should also check the water level. If it is dropped, replace the evaporated water to prevent salinity and pH levels from fluctuating.

Weekly schedule

Each week, tropical fish tanks should be cleaned and water changed. Dirty decorations should be removed and cleaned, while live plants must be trimmed and re-anchored. Tank walls should also be cleaned and liquid particles and gravel dirt siphoned off. After cleaning, remove 25% of aquarium water. Replace it with new water, but make sure it is filtered, aerated, and dechlorinated first. The temperature of the new water will also be the same as with water in the tank.

Monthly schedule

Tropical fish tanks need a more thorough cleaning every month. Apart from cleaning the tank's inner side and the other weekly tasks, you will also need to clean the filter media and refill filter cartridges. You should test all aquarium equipment during this period. Have your monthly cleaning same time as the water change. This way, you could use the discarded water to clean the filter media. You do not have to clean the biological media. Only the mechanical and chemical filtering media must be cleaned. To complete your monthly maintenance, making some attempt at pH levels, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels.

Keep a book of these test results, and any observation to be noted. This is for future reference in case a problem water conditions or health of your fish.

Bi-annual plan

The list of tasks you should do twice a year primarily includes checking the equipment such as pumps, filters, light bulbs, tubes and protein skimmers to see if they are to be cleaned or replaced. Check impeller pumps if it needs replacing. The inside of the intake and outlet pipes should be cleaned as well. It is advisable to change light bulbs at night, because they will cool to the touch in this period.

Things you need

You need the following when you do the cleaning and maintenance control of tropical fish tanks: magnetic aquarium cleaners, algae pads, gravel vacuum, resulting in losses, water changing tools, brushes, scrapers and scrubbers, pliers and gloves, and detergents. Be sure to use cleaners made specifically for cleaning aquariums, as ordinary dishwashing detergent is not advisable.