Aquarium Cleaning 101: How to Clean Your Fish Tank
If you have a fish tank, you more than likely want your fish to stay as healthy as possible. To do this, it is absolutely vital that you keep the tank conditions at optimal levels. To do this, it will require you to perform routine cleaning and maintenance to help keep the delicate Eco system of the tank exactly where it needs to be.
Water within your tank can very quickly and easily become harmful to all of the fish living in it when it is not properly maintained on a consistent basis. When you clean and maintain your tank correctly, you will not have to switch out all of the aquarium’s water at one time. In fact, if you do switch out all of the water in your fish tank at the same time, you are actually going to be doing more harm than good, as you will be killing all of the good bacteria that have been built up inside the tank.
If you are new to keeping a fish tank and can be considered a beginner in the fish aquarium niche, you may be thinking that having a smaller sized bowl or tank would be much easier to clean and maintain; however, this assumption is actually incorrect. The larger your aquarium size is, the easier it will be to keep the water inside it stabilized.
Here is everything that you need to know about cleaning your fish tank.
Why You Must Clean Your Fish Tank
When it comes to cleaning your fish tank, there are three main goals that you are going to try to be achieving. These three main goals are more commonly referred to as the three Rs and include:
- Regulating the tank’s nitrogen cycle
- Remove any particulate and dissolved compounds
- Replenish the tank’s essential minerals
Keep the levels of nitrates in lower concentrations
In case you were unaware, the nitrogen cycle within your fish tank is the process that converts ammonia into nitrite by bacteria, and then eventually to nitrate. This is not good as both nitrite and ammonia are extremely toxic to all breeds of fish. This means that you are going to want to have colonies of bacteria within your tank that are going to be able to convert these harmful compounds into nitrate. This is important because nitrates are way less toxic to fish, and can even be removed by simply changing the tank’s water on a regular basis.
Prior to adding any new fish to your tank, it will have ideally been cycled through. Now there are a few different ways that you can cycle your tank, but one of the better and more popular ways is to simply add some artificial ammonia, which will help to build up bacteria colonies, aiding in the breakdown of both nitrates and ammonia.
Remove any particulate and dissolved compounds
When it comes to organic matter, it is going to be classified into either DOM (dissolved organic matter) or POM (particulate organic matter). DOM is going to be defined as any type of organic materials that can flow through a filter that is 0.201.0 um, while POM is not going to be able to pass through at all.
The organic matter that you are going to want filtered out of your tank may include any type of waste products that can be made as a by-product of having a fish tank that is packed full of fish who are fed on a regular basis. This can include leftover food and fish waste. Similar to how ammonia is broken down with the help of bacteria colonies, food waste and other types of organic matter are also broken down with the help of bacteria colonies.
If you have a freshwater tank, incorporating plants can help use up some of the organics, leaving the rest to be removed by incorporating regular water cleanings and changes.
Replenish the tank’s essential minerals
When you have fish that are living in water with levels of insufficient minerals, which includes being either too low or too high, it can result in your fish suffering from osmotic stress, which will eventually lead them to osmotic shock, which will cause them to die.
Often times people who keep fish tanks will use RO water when they need to add more to it. RO water is special water that you can purchase and is fish tank friendly as it has gone through the process of reverse osmosis. This means that the water has been purified, in the sense that most of the tap water impurities have been removed. The only downside to this though, is that most of the essential minerals that the fish require to maintain their health have also been removed.
So if you are going to use RO water, be sure that you also use one of the products that will add back all these essential minerals that the water has been stripped of.
Regular Tank Maintenance
Before we look at exactly how you should be cleaning your fish tank, you are going to want to learn how to maintain your tank on both a daily, as well as weekly basis. Not only will this ensure that your fish tank stays in a healthy condition between cleanings, but it will also make the actual cleaning of the tank easier as well.
Daily Maintenance Tasks
There are three daily tasks that you will need to do in order to maintain a healthy tank that your fish will love living in. And don’t worry, it will only take you a few minutes to do all three of them each day.
- Be sure that you feed your fish two times per day and remove any of the food that was not eaten after about a 5-minute period. This is going to help prevent uneaten food from breaking down and lowering the quality of the tank’s water.
- Do a quick lookover of all the fish you have in your tank. Are all of them behaving as they should? Are they disease free? Do any of them look like they have any injuries?
- Double-check the temperature of the water in the tank, as well as the specific gravity that the water has. When you monitor both of these parameters on a daily basis, you will be able to easily and quickly rectify any adjustments that may need to be made.
Weekly Maintenance Tasks
One day per week you are going to want to do a more thorough check of your tank. Here is what you are looking for:
- Check the tank’s water. Be sure to check the levels of pH, nitrite and ammonia, nitrate, and if you have a saltwater tank, the salinity. For this, you can either choose to have your local fish shop test the water, or you can even purchase a testing kit for home use. And the best part about the home kits is that they are extremely easy to use, as they are just a strip of paper that is color coded and will help you determine the levels of all the above within your tank.
- Do a brief once-over on all of your tank’s equipment. Check the lights, filter, etc. This is not going to require an in-depth analysis of everything, but rather just ensure that everything is still working properly. Everything else can be done during the cleaning of the tank.
How Often Does Your Tank need to be Cleaned?
How much water you are going to replace within your tank and how often you are going to need to change out the water will depend entirely on what size your fish tank is, as well as the number of fish that you have living in it.
As a typical guideline, you want to aim to give a partial change to your freshwater tank, of about 10-20% about every 3 weeks. Again, if for some reason the water becomes very dirty, you should change it sooner than that.
When it comes to saltwater tanks, you will need to change out about 10% of the water each and every week for the entire first year of having the tank. After this timeframe, you can follow the same guidelines as freshwater tanks.
If you have more fish in your tank, you will also have a larger bio-load, meaning that the water is going to need to be changed more often. The same is true if you have a smaller tank, as the water can potentially become unstable. No matter what type of tank you have, during the first few months of keeping fish in it, you are going to want to monitor the conditions of the water on a regular basis. It will be easier to come up with an idea of how often you are going to need to clean your tank when you have a record with all of the different parameters on it.
But keep in mind that the parameters of the tank are going to depend entirely on the specific species of fish that you are keeping. Just remember that the different species of fish are going to have specific requirements that you are going to need to research. This is the only way to be sure that the fish, invertebrates, or corals that you have in there are all going to be within acceptable parameters.
Cleaning Your Fish Tank
When it comes to actually cleaning your fish tank, there are several different steps that you are going to want to follow. By following the steps listed below, you will make sure that you have not forgotten anything and that your tank stays within the optimal parameters and your fish stay healthy.
Step #1: Preparation
To get started with cleaning your tank, you are first going to want to gather all of the supplies that you are going to require. The supplies that you will need to thoroughly clean your fish tank include:
- Siphon gravel/sand vacuum
- Algae pad/scraper (a magnetic cleaner will work great)
- Large sized bucket (you want to make sure that this bucket is only used when you are cleaning out your tank. This will prevent any household chemicals from getting into your tank accidentally)
- New filter (is optional but recommended)
- Used clean cloth or towel
- Prepared water (how much you will need is going to depend upon how much you are going to replace, as well as if your tank is freshwater or saltwater)
- Water testing kit
- Heater and Powerhead (for saltwater aquariums only)
- Salinity probe (for saltwater aquariums only)
Since the majority of fish tanks are usually too heavy to be moved, you are going to make sure you have a siphon that will allow you to suck water out of your tank, and a larger sized bucket that will allow you to bring the replacement water for the tank.
You are going to unplug all of the tanks electronics including the filter, heater, and any other pumps that may be running. Next you will need to remove any of the larger ornaments or decorations.
When you are removing decorations from the tank, be sure that you do so slowly to avoid stirring up any of the debris that may be on the bottom of the tank. If you are using artificial plants, they can also be removed if they are in need of a cleaning as well, but try to never remove any of the live plants that you may have in the tank, as this will disrupt their root’s growth.
Step #2: Remove the Water
You are going to want to replace about 10-20% of all the water in the tank about every 3 weeks. You can use a siphon gravel vacuum that has a hose attachment to easily clean all the gravel at the bottom of the tank, as well as remove the water at the same time.
Try to suck up smaller amount of the gravel with the siphon, as any waste will also be sucked up through the tube and sent to the water bucket along with the water. As for the gravel, it will simply fall back into place at the bottom of the tank.
Some of the fancier siphons come with a built-in regulator to help control how much water flows through the hose, and some siphons will also come with longer hose attachments so that you can put the waste water directly into the sink (this is ideal if you don’t require any of the water to wash other pieces of equipment in.)
This step is not only going to remove the water from your tank, but it will also clean all the gravel by removing all of the waste that has sunken down to the substrate.
Step #3: Removing Algae
One of the absolute easiest ways that you can clean the glass of your tank is going to be using a magnetic algae cleaner. A magnetic algae cleaner has two magnets, one being attached to the inside of your tank, the other being attached to the outside of your tank. All that is left to do is drag the outside magnet over the glass walls of the tank, and the magnets on the inside will follow, gently removing most of the algae that has built up.
If your tank is made of acrylic, make sure that you select a cleaner that is not going to scratch the surfaces of your tank.
If any of the decorations from your tank need to be cleaned as well, you can easily do this with your bucket of water that you siphoned out of the tank. Just be sure that you are using a clean toothbrush with soft-bristles to avoid scratching anything. Another thing to remember is that you will never want to use any kind of soap or other cleaning products, as this can potentially be very deadly to the fish in your aquarium.
You may even want to think about getting a clean-up crew, as they will eat some of the algae that has built up in the tank.
Step #4: Cleaning the Filter
Depending upon the quality and type of filter that you are using, you may need to clean and even change the water that is in your filter. One of the most common types of filters used today is known as a sponge filter. To clean one, you are going to remove it and then rinse it in the bucket that has the water you siphoned out form the tank.
You never want to run your filter directly under any tap water, as this is gong to remove any of the bacteria that have been built up and is necessary for the health of your tank.
If you are using a different type of filter that acts like a mechanical filter (sponge, filter fiber, ceramic rings, etc.), is going to need to be rinsed off and replaced as quickly as you can to limit the amount of bacteria colonies that are lost.
If you are using a filter that contains ammonia absorbers, ion exchange resins, or carbon, they will need to be replaced every couple of weeks or so, as they will no longer work as they should and how much they absorb will began to decline.
Once the filter is clean, you should also clean the rest of the filter as well, including the filter tubing. This is easily done with a filter brush.
Step #5: Replacing the Water
Once you have completed the last four steps, it is time to top of your tank’s water. The type of water that you will add is going to depend upon whether you have a freshwater or saltwater tank.
- Preparation for Freshwater
If you can, try to prepare the water that you will be using to fill your aquarium in advance. Simply take some tap water and let it sit for 24 hours before you start to clean your tank. This will allow all the chlorine that is in the water to evaporate out.
It is necessary to use water conditioner to help eliminate any heavy metals, toxins, and chlorine that can be harmful to your fish. When you prepare your tank water in advance, it will give the water a chance to get to room temperature as well.
- Preparation for Saltwater
When it comes to saltwater tanks, you are going to have to be much more precise when you are changing the water. There are going to be three separate parameters that will need to be observed, temperature, pH, and salinity.
If you have reef in your aquarium, you will need to use RO (reverse osmosis) or DI (deionized) water. You can get this from your local aquarium store. In fact, this is the type of water that should be used for all of your saltwater tank setups.
If you do need to use tap water, you will want to do a total Dissolved Solids (TDS) test, ideally getting a reading of zero, but less than 10 is acceptable. Next you are going to want to dechlorinate the water and add a special salt mix. There are many different options for this, so be sure that you choose a higher quality mix from a well-known brand.
Once this is added, leave the water overnight prior to adding it back to your aquarium, giving the salt a chance to completely dissolve.
- Adding the Water
Wen you add the water back into your tank, be sure that the salinity and temperature of the water is as close to the tank’s as possible. This will avoid any sudden changes within your tank.
After a couple of hours, double check the tank’s water parameters and make sure that it is not cloudy. Lastly, if you feel so inclined, you can clean off the outside of your tank with an approved aquarium glass cleaner and soft cloth.
Congratulations, you have just successfully cleaned your fish tank!
