What You Need to Know About Freshwater Aquarium Maintenance

Freshwater Aquarium Maintenance TipsKEEP THE WATER CLEAN
Good freshwater aqurium maintenance habits areProbably the biggest reason for dirty water is
important not only for your own enjoyment but alsooverfeeding. It's a simple truth that the more food
for the life and health of your fish.your fish ingest the more waste comes out the
Now that you have your home freshwater aquariumother end.
up and running and populated with fish you want toNow, we're not suggesting you starve your fish for
make sure to protect the lives of your fish and keepthe sake of a clean tank but a pinch of food goes a
them healthy and stress-free.long, long way.
Proper maintenance of your home freshwaterA good rule of thumb is to put a pinch of food into
aquarium means doing regular water changes,the tank and see if it all gets eaten within a minute
maintaining a steady and proper tempature level,or so. If it does, add a second pinch, and that's it.
monitoring the water's PH levels and keeping theGranted, it totally depends on the size of your tank
water clean and debris-free.and how many fish since 30 fish will simply eat more
CHANGING THE WATERthan 13 fish, but watch to see how many flakes are
You should siphon out approximately 20-20% of thejust rolling along the bottom of the tank after 5
water in your tank about twice a week and refill itminutes. If after 5 minutes you still see flakes floating
with clean water. Make sure you do a partial wateror rolling around, yoo're feeding them too much. Cut
change at least once a month if you can't do it everyback a bit next time.
two weeks, but two weeks is optimal.KEEP OUT OF DIRECT SUNLIGHT
You also want to make sure you don't change theA little sunlight on the tank each day won't harm the
water too frequently, as the friendly bacteria thattank or the fish and is actually a good thing.
builds up is actually required to keep the tankBut you want to avoid sustained amounts of direct
balanced and the fish healthy.sunlight since this can contribute to algae.
MAINTAIN A CONSTANT TEMPERATUREAlgae can take over your tank and make it hard to
Maintaining a constant temperateure between 72 andclean and see the fish and sometimes makes the
75 degrees is optimal for most community tanks.water smell bad, too.
Some fish like it a little warmer while others canA healthy, balanced, well-aerated home freshwater
tolerate it cooler, but this range will suit most homeaquarium will hardly smell at all and should not have a
aquarium fish breeds.fishy smell or any strong odors.
KEEP A STEADY PH LEVELOdors are usually a sign of decay, either from rotting
The PH level of your fish tank is basically how alkalinefood or a dead fish. So doing a smell check as part
or acidic your water is, The PH scale ranges from 0of your routine freshwater aquarium maintenance
(highly acidic) to 14 (highly acidic). 7.0 is consideredduties is a good tool to use. The nose knows!
neutral and for most community fish this is what youKEEP IT AERATED
should try for and maintain.Keeping the water aerated with a separate air pump
Maintaining a proper PH level in the tank is key andand airstone will help your home freshwater aquarium
can sldo be dependent on the PH level of the watermaintain good circulation and oxygen levels which the
coming out of your tap. Unusually hard or softwaterfish need to maintain good health.
will need to be pre-treated before you can use it.By having a properly aerated home freshwater
TIP: take a sample to your local pet store where youaquarium with the correct temperature and PH that
buy your fish and have them test it. You can buyyou don't overfeed, will increase your chances of
various chemicals to adjust the PH of your tankhaving a healthy and happy fish tank for years to
depending on the levels.come.