Maintenance For Your Aquarium

How often you need to service an aquarium will depend on its size and the number of fish. The information below is a general guide only.

DAILY Check that the filter is working and that the thermometer is reading within normal range for your fish. Spend a few minutes monitoring your aquarium and its fish. Check that all fish are present and looking healthy. If your fish do develop a problem, then the earlier you know about it, the easier it is to remedy it. If you discover a dead fish then remove it immediately using the aquarium net.

WEEKLY  Monitoring the water chemistry of the aquarium will allow you to deal with any water problems before they harm your fish. Home water test kits and strips can be used to check your water quality that will provide data on the most important water parameters in fish keeping. Your local aquatic store can also assist with testing your aquarium water. If you have just set-up a new aquarium, water testing should be conducted more frequently in the first 4-6 weeks, to ensure that the biological filter is maturing well.

EVERY 2 WEEKS  You will need to change 25% of your aquarium water every two weeks.  You’ll need a few supplies, but it is generally a very simple task.

STEP 1: Perform water changes by removing 20-25% of the water from the tank into a bucket using a gravel siphon cleaner tube. Before discarding the water, you can use it to rinse the filter inserts (cartridges), if new filter inserts are needed, they can also be rinsed with this water.

STEP 2: Replace with tap water that has been dechlorinated.  Simply add cold tap water to a bucket and then slowly stir in some hot water (e.g. from a kettle), until the correct temperature is achieved (check using the glass thermometer). Then mix in an appropriate quantity of AQUARIAN Instant Dechlorinator (5ml (1tsp) for every 10G of aquarium water). Check the temperature once more before pouring the warmed, dechlorinated water into the aquarium slowly to avoid disturbing the gravel.

MONTHLY: Remove any trapped dirt from the gravel using a siphon tube or special gravel siphon cleaner (various gadgets for cleaning gravel are available from your aquatic retailer). Remove algae from the viewing glass using an algae scraper or algae ‘magnet’.