| An effective Fish tank maintenance routine is what | | | | Each week you need to have your replacement |
| will make the difference between a successful tank | | | | water prepared in advance for water changes. Use |
| and an unsuccessful tank. It is very easy to put off | | | | the 10% to 25% water change to vacuum the |
| doing the routine weekly maintenance and even | | | | substrate to remove uneaten food and fish waste. If |
| easier to forget the things that need to be done less | | | | there is a lot, it may be that you are over feeding |
| frequently. It may seem unnecessary but I would | | | | the fish. Clean the glass with an algae scraper. This is |
| always recommend keeping a diary of things so that | | | | a good time to do the plant maintenance, removing |
| you know exactly what needs doing and when it | | | | dead and dying leaves and re-fixing any that have |
| was last done. | | | | come adrift. |
| Break your maintenance routine down into daily, | | | | On a monthly basis you need to look at things like |
| weekly, monthly and six monthly tasks, diarise them | | | | changing filter media, cleaning out the filters. Don't |
| to make sure that you keep up with them and you | | | | change all your filter media at the same time, make |
| will find that your fish and plants remain healthy and | | | | sure that you leave roughly half of it in place to keep |
| happy. | | | | the biological filter working. |
| The daily tasks are more about observation than | | | | Test for water quality every month once the tank |
| anything else. Obviously you will be feeding your fish | | | | has matured, more often if you are experiencing any |
| on a daily basis so take the opportunity to give them | | | | problems. Always write down the results so that you |
| a look over and make sure that everything is OK. Do | | | | can see a trend and spot any problems before they |
| a quick headcount to make sure that none have died | | | | become too large. |
| and are lurking in the plants waiting to pollute your | | | | Every six months or so you'll need to change the |
| tank with an Ammonia spike. | | | | light tubes. They may still seem the same but they |
| Are they behaving normally or are they off their | | | | lose power over time and should be changed to help |
| food. This can be an indication of a potential problem. | | | | keep your plants healthy. |
| While you at the tank, take a quick glance at the | | | | Get into a routine and your aquarium will stay healthy |
| thermometer. Is the temperature what it should be. | | | | and happy. |
| And is the water level staying constant. | | | | |