Aquarium Maintenance Tips
Read these 8 Aquarium Maintenance Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Aquarium tips and hundreds of other topics.
Water Changing Methods
Siphoning is the easiest way to remove water from a tank. For large tanks, using a "Python" (a great product) or other long hose allows one to dispense siphon water directly into a drain or outside garden. When removing water via siphoning, you should also clean your gravel. Many water changing hoses, or tank "vacuums" are available and include a gravel cleaning attachment. The basic idea behind them is to connect a wide mouthed tube to the end of the siphon hose. When the tube is plunged into the gravel, the water flow churns up the gravel, but only the dirt, mulm, etc. is light enough to be siphoned out. Note that the dirty water being removed from your tank contains nitrates, which make an excellent fertilizer for your flower or vegetable garden unless you have a saltwater tank, in which case the water that is removed should be dumped down the drain. When adding water to the tank, the use of a small pump is the cleanest way to put the new water into the tank.
Water changing frequency
The more frequent the changes, the less water that needs to be replaced. However, the longer between changes, the more stressful each change potentially becomes, because a larger portion of the water gets replaced. Replacing roughly 25% of your tank's water bi-weekly is a good minimal starting point, but this may not be enough. The proper frequency really depends on such factors as the fish load in your tank, how much you feed at each feeding and what types of filtration you have. Nonetheless, you should do water changes often enough so that nitrate levels stay at or below 50ppm in fish only systems, and preferably MUCH lower (less than 10ppm is an optimal value) while reef tanks should have a nitrate level below 2 ppm; the change in water chemistry resulting from a change is small. In particular, the before and after pH of your tank shouldn't differ by more than .2 units. Use a ph test kit or meter the first few times to get a feel for what's right. If your pH changes too much as a result of a water change, perform changes more frequently, but replace less water at each change. Make sure the water temperature does not fluctuate more than 2 degrees when you perform a water change.
Deionization or DI best practices
Deionization or DI filters strip water of 96% to 99% of all impurities. The use of a pre-filtration system, such as a reverse osmosis filter, will greatly extend the life span of the DI filter. DI filters also alter the property of water by removing electrolytes from the water during the filtration process. Avoid drinking water purified with a DI filter because the lack of electrolytes will cause the DI water to strip the electrolytes from your body.
Deionization or DI
Deionization is a process for filtering tap water before it is added to the aquarium. It comes with either separate or mixed-bed resins. The mixed-bed resins are disposable when they are exhausted, whereas separate resins can be recharged, though that requires working with caustic chemicals.
Water Changes
Perform regular partial water changes. Changing 25% of your tank's water every other week serves two purposes: it dilutes and removes nitrate before it accumulates to dangerous levels, and it replaces trace elements and buffers that get used up by bacteria, plants, etc. Water changes are the most important step in controlling disease, and large water changes are not safe unless the chemical composition (e.g., pH and GH) of your tank's water is similar to the water you are adding.
Tap Water
Properly treat all tap water before adding it to your aquarium. Most municipal water contains such added chemicals as chlorine or chloramine to make it safe for human consumption. These substances are toxic to fish and can weaken, damage or even kill fish. Use bottled water, reverse osmosis water, or a water conditioner to remove these harmful compounds. It is also recomended to test your tap water and use chemicals to adjust these dangerous elements if you do not use a reverse osmosis filter. It is also best to let tap water de-gas by sitting in an open top container for a few hours before adding to the aquarium.
Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis is a process for filtering tap water before it is used in an aquarium. This process generates water slowly and wastes a couple of gallons of water for each gallon of filtered water produced. However it is one of the easiest home methods available. Reverse osmosis water is also excellent for many home uses such as drinking water, cooking, and watering house plants.
Reverse osmosis best practices
Reverse osmosis filters consist of a sediment prefilter used to remove physical sediment such as dirt and sand from water. A carbon prefilter is also used to remove chlorine from the tap water. The final stage in a reverse osmosis filter is the membrane itself. The membrane uses rejection to allow only pure water to pass through, while non pure water is rejected out the drain (or brine) line. Reverse osmosis filters operate best with at least 55 psi of water pressure and the input water temperature of at least 60 degrees. Without these parameters met, the amount of product water produced each day is greatly reduced.
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