Aquarium Maintenance
Good and consistent Aquarium Maintenance will lead to a healthy and thriving environment for your fish and corals. When it comes to maintenance, we can break up aquarium maintenance into several parts below:
- Cleaning Algae
- Cleaning Substrate
- Water Changes
- Equipment Maintenance
Cleaning algae is one of the most common maintenance duties of an aquarium. While a clean up crew can help control algae, typically manual cleaning is required to keep the tank glass crystal clear. Film algae is very easy to remove with sponge or pad, but coralline algae is a bit trickier. For glass tank owners, you can utilize a blade like the ones equipped on the algae free cleaner magnets. For acrylic owners, you will want to look for a plastic scrapper that is suited for acrylic. An old credit card is also a common old school tool by hobbyist to clean these type of tanks. One of the most exciting developments in algae cleaning are automatic cleaners powered by robots. They are just starting to enter the market, but we really like what we are seeing from new companies working on innovating this technology!
Cleaning substrate would be the next task. For those with fish only or fish only with live rock set ups, you can clean your substrate with a gravel vac when you do your water changes. This removes detritus in the substrate and harmful toxins from building up. For those with reef tanks and live substrate, you can carefully clean your substrate with a small siphon hose and being careful about the distance between the hose and your substrate. You can also gently shovel your substrate in stages to keep algae from building up on your substrate and remove any detritus from the surface.
Water changes are also essential. Most hobbyists will use a siphon hose or gravel vacuum to remove water from the aquarium. Others with custom plumbing will use the plumbing in their sump to remove water into a bucket.
The last part of aquarium maintenance is equipment maintenance. Regularly checking and cleaning equipment will ensure your equipment stays functioning.
Aquarium Store Depot sells a variety of aquarium maintenance tools used to keep your tank running.
Showing the single result