How to clean the aquarium at home? Aquarium Care Tips

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Aquarium indoors is not only an interior decoration, but also a great way to relax. Few things can soothe and relax a person as much as watching the leisurely smooth movements of aquatic inhabitants. But in order for the glass fish house to remain aesthetically pleasing, it needs to be properly cared for. So every novice aquarist should know how to properly clean the aquarium and how often to do this procedure.

Detergents and tools

What is the best detergent to wash the walls from plaque? None. The use of any chemistry will be extremely detrimental to any fish. The use of household detergents is contraindicated for any items that have contact with the aquarium, as they leave a large amount of harmful substances.

If you did use a chemical detergent, then rinse the container several times in running water.

But you can use baking soda. But even after it, the aquarium needs to be rinsed for at least 4-5times.

If the flora or fauna is infected with any disease, then disinfection should be carried out with a product purchased from a specialized store.

Also for cleaning you will need: a sponge or a scraper, a device for cleaning the aquarium - a siphon, a net, a container for jigging fish.

How often should I clean the aquarium

Tanks less than 60 liters need to be cleaned more often, while large aquariums require maintenance approximately 1-2 times a month. Small domestic ponds, which fit only 15-20 liters of water, are recommended to be washed once a week. But in fact, it all depends on how quickly the glass house for aquatic inhabitants is covered with plaque, consisting of their waste products. As a rule, the denser the aquarium is populated with different inhabitants, the faster it loses its attractive appearance.

New containers, just populated by fish and other residents, do not become cloudy for a long time. If this happens, it means that the launch of the entire system was incorrect and it needs to be finalized. For example, add beneficial microorganisms (sold in the store) or replace the filter with a more powerful one.

Filter

Caring for an aquarium involves regular cleaning of filters, both external and internal. There is no norm for the frequency of their washing, everything will depend on the specific case. After all, each home reservoir is unique - it contains a complex ecosystem with its own species diversity, living conditions and diet.

To orderto determine how often the filter needs to be washed, it is necessary to remember what water pressure the device had when it was first installed. Its weakening indicates that it is time for a purge.

The filter is washed in water drained from the siphon, with a soft brush, without the use of detergents. All this is done in order to preserve the valuable microorganisms involved in the water purification process.

Now let's define how to clean the aquarium at home. There are several types of this procedure: partial - 1-2 manipulations are carried out, general - the entire container and all elements are carefully processed, regular - procedures that are carried out at more or less constant intervals, urgent - the inhabitants are afflicted with an ailment and immediate washing and disinfection is required.

But any of these types consists of a combination of the following steps.

Cleansing the soil

Regular cleaning of the bottom is carried out using a siphon. This device is simply irreplaceable. How to clean an aquarium with a siphon? Lower the hose of the mechanical device into the container closer to the bottom - it will begin to pump out small particles together with water. So you can get rid of a large amount of waste products and food residues. At the same time, you need to make sure that too much water is not pumped out: experts recommend draining no more than 20% at a time, a maximum of half.

There are also electric siphons - small compact appliances. Their plus is that all the pumped water passes through a special pocket and leaves all unnecessary debris there. The liquid is then returned to the aquarium.

Getting rid of soil from excess organic matter is not a quick procedure, and takes about 1 hour. In this case, it is necessary to carefully carry out the processing near the roots of plants, as they can be damaged.

Washing the walls

How to clean the aquarium from limescale and greenery that stick to the walls? The procedure is carried out either with an ordinary household sponge (its hard side washes well the mixture of calcified deposits and algae from the glass), or with a special scraper.

Scrapers get rid of plaque much better than sponges. In stores, you can find standard scrapers with a metal blade and magnetic.

Cleaning decorative items

Caring for an aquarium involves cleaning the various decorations that are in it. As a rule, these are stones of different sizes, anchors, decorative chests, ships and other attributes of a marine theme. An aquarium with such elements turns into an interesting interior detail, it is more attractive, and the added details give it an almost fabulous look. But all this can be lost if all these ships and chests are covered with a gray-green coating.

Therefore, all decorations must be regularly washed without the use of chemicals: for this they are removed, and after all the manipulations, they are installed back.

Water change

Now that you know how to clean the aquarium, it remains to figure out how to competently change the water. And first of all, you need to prepare it. Ordinary tap water contains many impurities. Chlorine is especially dangerous, but fish can also be harmedvarious s alts and metals. On the other hand, distilled water is too sterile and does not contain any useful components.

Therefore, for an aquarium, they use tap water filtered or settled for a day, which can be diluted with distilled water - this will soften the water. Also, to reduce hardness, tap water is boiled (then settled) or frozen.

For marine life, s alt is added to the liquid (special, according to the instructions).

At least 1/5 of the volume changes at a time, but not more than half, otherwise the aquatic inhabitants will feel bad.

What contributes to pollution

It's not enough just to know how to clean an aquarium. You also need to understand what contributes to pollution. Turbid water, algae and stones in a dirty coating, through the glass you can barely see the inhabitants - all this indicates the wrong conditions. So, pollution is exacerbated by the following factors:

• excessive light;
• overpopulation of the aquarium;
• too much food;
• lack of filtering;
• diseases and fungi.

If for a long time it is not possible to determine the reason why the container needs frequent cleaning, then the aquarium is “restarted” - washed, disinfected, stones are calcined, the soil is changed, etc.

Aquarium snails and other useful inhabitants

Why learn how to clean an aquarium when you can figure out what kind of tenants to populate it so that you have to do itas little as possible.

Cleanliness in the glass house is helped by cleaner fish. They have an interesting coloration, they are distinguished by a calm behavior. The lower part of the mouth of these little helpers resembles a ladle, in some other varieties it resembles a suction cup. It is with them that they collect plaque from algae and food residues from the walls and decorative elements.

Catfish of various types will help with cleaning the aquarium, but some of them are large in size and do not get along with other residents. Many live-bearing fish also eat the plaque, the most famous representatives of this family are guppies.

Shrimps fight pollution well. But they need a lot - 1 individual per liter of water. However, they are too defenseless, and they are often eaten by neighbors.

You can also put snails in the glass house - universal cleaners.

Snails for the aquarium: which ones are better cleaned?

How good are snails compared to other cleaners? Because they are truly omnivores. And if fish are selective in food, for example, they eat only a certain type of algae on the walls, then gastropods eat everything - the remains of food, the excrement of all living inhabitants, the decaying remains of the dead, rotting plants, mucus and other organic substances.

Snails can be either specially bought in the store, or accidentally brought into the aquarium with new fish, soil, plants or water.

There are also negative consequences of the presence of snails in the water house. They very quickly give birth to offspring, while their numbers are difficultto control. With an excess of gastropods, they do more harm than good - they stain everything with mucous secretions, eat he althy plants.

Which snails clean the aquarium best? Here is a list of the most common:

• Ampoule. Large, up to 10 cm gastropods with brown and yellow color. They are unpretentious in food, but young shoots of plants can eat up.
• Melania. A small dark gray ground snail. Often they become inhabitants of the aquarium by accident. Adults are 3-4 cm long and almost never emerge from the ground. Viviparous. Omnivorous and very useful.
• Neretina (black, brindle, hedgehog). Medium-sized, up to 3.5 cm gastropods with interesting colors. They feed on plaque from walls and plants without damaging them. Can get out of the aquarium. The disadvantages include the fact that they leave unattractive masonry on the walls.
• Septaria (turtle snail). Interesting yellow-striped color and flat shell. Slow, but cleans plaque well. The minus is the same - ugly masonry.
• Corbicula. Bright yellow snail, 3 cm long. Live water filter - the mollusk passes and filters up to 5 liters of water per hour. Cons - can damage plants with a weak root system.