Best Guide to Home Aquarium Maintenance
Starting an aquarium at home is easier than you might think but keeping it maintained is not a bit easy. Here I am not scaring you, give an idea, and do prepare you if you have drowned in fish farming. It is your responsibility to take care of the fish. For this purpose, It is necessary to do Maintenance of the Home Aquarium.
Spending thirty minutes on Home Aquarium maintenance per week is not a big deal. Rather it is entertaining for those who are crazy about fish. It also helps in the future to prevent time-consuming problems.
By the end of reading this guide, you may be able to maintain your Aquarium in a bit easy way.
Why does the Aquarium need Maintenance?
As everything needs maintenance. like vehicles, airplanes, trains, houses, offices, and even humans, why not Fish Aquarium? It also needs care. Here, we are talking about the Home aquarium. In the aquarium, the fish are defecating( discharge feces from the body ). Because their home and toilet are in one place. so the reproduction of germs and bacteria takes place.
This is one core reason and enough I have discussed here, as there are too many to address but the guide will be boring.
Steps of Maintenance Guide:
How should you manage water and why?
As we are living in an environment where the air is a big factor, it can be polluted or healthy. , water plays a vital role in the life of fishes. If water is polluted the lives of fish become terrible.
Let me explain to you a reference example of human life. If the air contains fog and other pollutants. It becomes too dreadful and facilitates many diseases. It is related to water in the matter of fish. As they are living in the water.
Following are the steps to make water as per the standard of fish-living:
Test and Track Water Parameters:
It looks easy to test the water. To check, whether it is safe or unhealthy. But actually, it is so easy. If you check the following parameters, with the help of a water testing kit( recommended: API Master Test Kit ) and Thermometer.
The parameters are:
PH: it should be between 6.5 to 8.2
Alkalinity: it should be between 120 to 250 mg/L
Temperature: it should be between (23–28) degree Celsius or (74–82) degree Fahrenheit
NOTE: One water testing per week or two is enough to maintain healthy water.
Change Aquarium Water:
After Perform water testing. If you find any parameter outside or inside the boundary as described above. You should change water by (10–15)% on an average of two weeks.
Pro Tip: I recommend that you change (3–6)% water every day. It takes only 2–3 minutes and how beneficial this is for you, can’t imagine. This advice works and you will get PH and alkalinity normal in every testing. This regular water change dilutes. As a result, pH will decrease or remain normal as water PH is also 7(it is an optimal PH for Aquarium)
Avoid Over-feeding:
In the beginning, you might feed fish more than they need to increase growth but it is not a solution, a good diet may help in growth.
In a day, 3 to 5 times feed is enough but it is different for every kind of fish. To overcome this problem you have to consult a pet seller, he/she might guide you best.
Understand signs of illness:
It is a saying that one fish can dirt the whole tank. Learn the sign of illness of fish.
If your fish is showing the following symptoms, it means something is wrong.
- Lethargic
- Not eating enough
- Gasping for air
Immediately put this fish into another water tub(contain some salt to make alkaline). Put some anti-infecting drops, and observe her movement if it gets normal, and put her back in the aquarium.
Cleaning the tank:
Frequent water change doesn’t need frequent tank cleaning. But if you see your tank wall is getting lost transparency, it means it needs cleaning.
Procedure: Take out all fish from the tank and put it in another water tub. Throw out all the aquariums and wash everything that makes up an aquarium(stones, filter, sand, etc). After washing put back the fish into their home
Manage Light in and around the Aquarium:
On average 8 to 10 hours daily non-intense lighting is fair. In a daylight exposure, puts off LED-light as light is only for viewers not for fish as they have better eye-sight than humans.
Location:
It does matter, human beings also want to live where they feel comfortable. Fish wants a decent environment.
Set the aquarium at a place away from:
- High-traffic areas or high-human interaction places
- Sunlight (direct exposure can increase their surrounding temperature
Kit Required for Maintenance:
Cleaning is the key part of Aquarium maintenance. Without a cleaning kit, it is difficult to clean the aquarium.
Often, when a fish is getting illness we need to get it out for some time, this kit can help in doing so.
Following are accessories that a kit contains:
- A fishnet
- An algae brush
- A fiber tank brush
- A plant clamp
- A pebble rake, separate the dirty things from the bottom of your aquarium
The above kit makes aquarium maintenance as simple as it can be.
Clean or Maintain Aquarium Equipment
An aquarium contains the following equipment:
Air Pump: Fish can breathe as they do in the sea but an aquarium space is short that’s why they need an air pump to come in. It adds a boost of oxygen and creates a comfortable environment for fishes.
I recommend Whisper 10 Aquarium pump, as it has a unique dome-like shape and provides a smooth stream of air.
The purpose of discussing Air pump is to avoid risk. One must have a spare air pump as it can affect fish health, they become used to, to get oxygen from.
Filter: As discussed, water is the environment of fish in aquariums, and filters are the key part to make it clean. A filter can remove dust, dirt, and other unnecessary substances that can harm fish or plant health.
Whisper® EX Series Filtration Systems is prescribed. As it has a unique dome-like shape and provides a smooth stream of air.
Lighting: Light blinks through electricity so it could be harmful to fish in the water. If there is an electrical disorder in the wiring of an instrument, electric shock produces.
Maintenance and checking of an electrical instrument should be mandatory.
Heater: It is an essential device for cold places because fishes cannot produce body heat. They completely rely on water temperature. It is available according to their capacity(depends on aquarium size).
Tetra HT heaters are best selling heaters in the fish market and many experts recommend it. HT heaters come up with the feature of red and green light. It indicates heating to blink red light while standby mode to blink green.
It maintains water at 78-degree Fahrenheit, a moderate value for aquarium physical conditions
The purpose of describing the importance of a heater is that it is as important as the heater human use in cold weather in a room. After every few days check whether it is working or not.
Thermometer: The temperature of the water during water testing can check through this device.
Gravel: It produces beneficial bacteria to help breakdown wastes produced by fishes in an aquarium.
It also required cleaning to work.
Final Words:
I hope This general guide works for every aquarium that’s why I was not specific throughout the guide.
The methods I have told you above are universal and traditional as well.
Always remember, not every kind of fish you can handle. If you are a beginner you have to do some research before purchasing.
Moreover, if you want to put new fish with the foregoing existing aquarium fish so don’t let her put in an aquarium. Rather take outside in a single tub. It is a pro tip.
Don’t forget, it is far more challenging to maintain an overstocked and overfed aquarium, avoid both of them.
You will be happy to take care of the fish. In case you include tips in the fish care routine you’ll end up with a lovely tank full of healthy and active fish. It takes your half-hour in a week to maintain depending on tank size and it is entertaining as well. So you will not get bored in schedule maintenance.
