How to Keep Your Fish Tank Clean
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=J_W_Chase]J W Chase
Introduction
Aquarium freshwater fish are picky with the cleanliness of their environment. If you allow it to get dirty, you may stress out your fish leading to sickness and even death. Here are some ways I keep my 75-gallon aquarium clean and my fish happy.
Keeping Your Aquarium Clean
One item that may be causing your aquarium to be dirty is the growing bacteria in your water. This is good and normally occurs right after you clean the tank. So if this is happening to your tank, do not worry about it, after a few hours it will clear up.
If your water is dirty after you put your first batch of water in, you probably did not clean the substrate and other items you put in the aquarium. You would be surprised at the amount of filth that is on the new decorations and especially the substrate you place in your aquarium. Always wash anything you put in your aquarium with warm water.
Some other ways you can get dirty water is to have to many fish in your tank. A rule of thumb is five inches of adult fish per five gallons of aquarium water. Example, my tank is 75-gallons and I can safely place 15 total inches of adult fishes in my tank.
You may also be feeding your fish too much and the excess food is causing your water to be cloudy. There are many recommendations on how much to feed your fish, I feed mine the amount they can eat in three minutes, twice a day. My tank stays clear with this schedule.
How To Clean Your Tank
With my 75-gallon aquarium I clean it every week. I use a vacuum that I purchased at my local pet store. It is a device that you move on the bottom, beneath the substrate, picking up the debris and waste in the tank. The device actually creates a siphon when you pump the end of the plastic tube.
I direct the water being siphoned to a five-gallon bucket. By just putting two and a half gallons in the bucket at a time, makes it easier to handle. I then take this water and put it on my plants and vegetable garden because it is a good fertilizer.
I replace slightly more than ten per cent of the water every week, about ten gallons a week. Plus I vacuum just half of the tank once a week. This whole procedure takers me thirty to forty-five minutes a week and keeps my aquarium clean and my fish happy.
Conclusion
One way to clean your aquarium is to keep it clean. Wash every thing you put in your tank with warm water, do not over feed your fish, and do not over populate your tank.
Vacuum your aquarium at least once a week and replace at least ten per cent of the water to keep it clean.
J.W. Chase has been keeping a 75-gallon aquarium with several different fish species for many years. He has extensive knowledge of how to manage an aquarium keeping all his fish healthy and smiling. His web site has information on keeping aquariums and your fish happy. If you want more information on how to manage an aquarium go to his site [http://www.squidoo.com/homefreshwateraquariums]http://www.squidoo.com/homefreshwateraquariums.
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