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The real challenge to owners is keeping their tank running correctly. They have it working fine initially but then problems come along which were not expected!

Dirty Water.

Fed up with dirty water? Your fish are as well.
Give a power filter a try, it will make your tank almost completely self-cleaning. It makes use of chemicals to filter out odours and dirt and remove discolouration and general impurities.   If you can put up with changing the filter every three to four weeks then you should be very happy. The filters are usually disposable, so there’s no hassle and no leaning over a sink for hours hoping that it gets clean.

Algae.

Algae is a problem in many tanks, it is so obvious that we tend to see it to the exclusion of everything els including the fish.
The easiest, most practical, and quickest solution is simple. Find yourself a Plecostomus. He will keep your tank clean of algae, his nickname is ‘algae eater’, but he is no great looker. Plus, this ugly algae eater has a wonderful personality!

Without the help of an ‘algae eater’ you will have to remove it by hand. A number of tools are available which vary in price but all do a good job.   Sunny conditions cause algae to grow profusely! If you have a shaded tank then any algae problems are going to be considerably less than if it were in uthe sun.

Strong Scents.

Change your filter more regularly to ensure that this doesn’t happen, because it can hurt your fish tank, and kill your fish if it goes untreated.   They simply can’t live in those conditions.

Unclear Water.

This is a big sign of overfeeding.   Don’t give your fish more then what they can eat in 3-5 minutes in one sitting, and only feed them 2-3 times a day. This should get rid of the problem.   If it doesn’t, try using bottled drinking water or distilled water. You can buy it by the gallon full at most grocery stores and it only costs about 50-70 cents per gallon.

Change The Water

Use a siphon to remove about 25% of the water every week or at least every two weeks.   You simply put one end of the hose in your mouth, the other end in the tank water and suck.   Once water starts flowing, put it in a bucket and let some of it drain out.   Then, simply replace the water. The job people don’t like is once a month when the aquarium has to be cleaned.

To remove anything that’s stuck on the inside of the glass, scrub it gently with a sponge. You will scratch acrylic aquariums with a scraper but they’re fine with glass.
Decorations should be cleaned by soaking them in hot salt water and scrubbing them with a sponge. You should never use soap. The residue will kill your fish very quickly.

Gravel vacuums are used by a lot of people to remove detritus and old food that has fallen into the gravel. Use the gravel vacuum according to its instructions, there are several sizes available for different size tanks.

When You Refill Your Tank.

Make sure you refill your tank when changing the water with water at the same temperature. Using a kitchen sink and a garden hose attachment, you can get the water right and go from tank to tank (If you have more then one) and make sure that everyone is happy.   But remember that tap water wasn’t made for fish keeping. A better option than tap water is often heating a 5 – 10 gallon bucket of distilled water!

John A Thomson is a freshwater aquarium maintenance expert. For more information on freshwater aquarium maintenance visit www.freshwateraquariumsecretsonline.com.