- Video: Aquarium Maintenance for Beginners
- Every day
- Video: Cleaning a Dirty Aquarium - Fish Tank Maintenance
- Every week
- Video: Best Ways To Maintain A Fish Tank! 10 Things You Should Know About Aquarium Maintenance
- Once a month
- Video: 5 Ways to SAVE Melting Aquarium Plants Before It's Too Late
- Light Mode
- General recommendations for aquarium care
- Video: Basic Aquarium Maintenance 101
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- Comments (8)
Do you have an aquarium in your house? Congratulations! A microsystem with aquatic plants, fish is a real corner of relaxation and positive emotions.
Together with the fish breeding tank, the owner should also have a desire to provide proper care to the inhabitants, to create optimal microclimatic conditions. How to care for fish in an aquarium, what maintenance activities should be carried out?
So, how to care for fish in an aquarium for beginners - further in our article.
Video: Aquarium Maintenance for Beginners
Every day
How often should an aquarium be maintained? Experienced aquarists recommend setting aside 15-20 minutes a day every day, performing certain actions at weekly, monthly, quarterly intervals. Activities are aimed at maintaining an optimal biological regime, cleaning, regular water changes, etc.
Daily required
- check the transparency of the water, make sure that there is no unpleasant odor;
- control the temperature;
- check the stability of the aquarium equipment: filters, lighting, heating devices, aerator.
Depending on the type of plants, they are fed daily or fertilized more frequently. It is necessary to remove dead parts of plants, conduct a visual inspection for the presence of diseases.
Daily fish care consists of proper feeding. Growing guppies, angelfish, caring for goldfish, the nutritional principles of different types are different. It is necessary to immediately remove dead individuals from the aquarium, inspect for the presence of diseases, and, if necessary, quarantine infected fish. Feed residues that could clog the filter are removed.
Video: Cleaning a Dirty Aquarium - Fish Tank Maintenance
Every week
The parameters of the water in the aquarium (acidity, hardness, temperature) directly affect the viability of the inhabitants. How to understand that you need to change the water in the aquarium? It is recommended to replace a third or a quarter of the volume weekly. The frequency depends on the size of the tank, the number of fish and plants, the power of the filter and compressor. Preliminary water is defended for 5-7 days. Partial water intake is carried out using a siphon.
Different breeds of fish have different temperature preferences. Most feel good at t 21-22 degrees. Warm water discus live at 32°C, for such fish a heater is used.
To keep large fish such as a parrot, you need a spacious tank with a capacity of at least 200 liters. In the process of life, fish produce a large amount of nitrogenous waste. It is important to know how to care for a parrot fish and follow the rules for adding fresh water.
Other events:
- cleaning the soil, performed simultaneously with draining the water;
- hardness and acidity control. To measure these parameters, litmus papers are used. Excessive rigidity is compensated by adding melt water, acidity - by adding soda;
- Decoration cleaning: artificial algae, stones, etc.
Among the weekly activities - control of work, if necessary - cleaning the filter, getting rid of algae fouling of other equipment.
Aquarium equipment service
In small containers, the filter often becomes clogged. The intensity of cleaning depends on the number of fish, the more there are, the faster the equipment clogs. The first sign of clogging is a decrease in filtration rate. Biological filters are cleaned less frequently than mechanical or chemical filters. If there are several biological filtration units in the aquarium, partial cleaning is carried out for each.
Beginner aquarists are wondering, is it possible to turn off the filter in the aquarium at night? No, you should not do this, even if the roar of the motor interferes with sleep. A long downtime in water purification will negatively affect the microclimate and the well-being of the fish.
Mechanical devices are dismantled, each part is treated with a toothbrush. Sprayers are carefully checked.
Maintenance includes checking aerator hoses, lubricating piston pumps.
Video: Best Ways To Maintain A Fish Tank! 10 Things You Should Know About Aquarium Maintenance
Once a month
Monthly, you need to repeat the activities described above, but supplement them with a complete cleaning of the soil. It is required to check the performance of all devices installed in the aquarium, observe maintenance intervals, and perform measures recommended by manufacturers.
Complete water change
If your aquarium is cared for properly, a complete replacement will not be necessary. Such a procedure is an emergency measure and is carried out in case of mass illness of the inhabitants, if necessary, disinfect or repair the container, with stable flowering or cloudy water.
The quality of the water in the aquarium directly depends on the correct feeding of the fish. It is better to use dry, easily digestible foods that reduce the amount of harmful waste. A portion should be eaten in 2-3 minutes. Overfeeding will soon affect the state of the water.
Video: 5 Ways to SAVE Melting Aquarium Plants Before It's Too Late
Light Mode
How many hours a day should the aquarium light be on? Intensity of illumination In the absence of plants - photosynthetics depends on the filling, a lot of light is not needed. Ideally, you should turn on a table lamp in front of the container only to contemplate a pleasant picture.
Other lighting rules:
- 8-10 hours a day if there are live plants or corals;
- The usual portions of daylight are enough for the fish to live normally. When it is deficient, the timer is set for 6-8 hours.
Too long daylight hours cause intensive growth of algae and are not useful for fish. When turning on the lights, don't forget to turn it off at night.
General recommendations for aquarium care
Maintenance of a home, office aquarium is not a difficult process. It is enough to adhere to the schedule of service activities, monitor the operation of equipment, change water in a timely manner, clean the soil and surface, turn on the compressor more often to enrich the water with oxygen.
When replacing water in freshwater tanks, ordinary tap water is first rid of chlorine using special reagents, such as Tetra AquaSafe. Sea water is preliminarily defended.
Follow simple guidelines, love your fish and have fun.
Video: Basic Aquarium Maintenance 101
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