The Basics of Fish Tank Maintenance
By Christopher Morris
Owning an aquarium full of beautiful tropical fish can be very enjoyable. Many people say that watching the fish is a very relaxing past time and the living beauty it provides the home is very satisfying. The fish make outstanding pets as they hardly take any time for care and do not require any demands for your time. There is one thing that is required thought and that is maintaining and caring for the fish tank. Fish tank maintenance is a very important part of tropical fish ownership.
When performing fish tank maintenance it has been thought that it is best to remove the fish from the tank. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is best to leave the fish in the tank when cleaning the tank or changing the water. The fish will become stressed when you are chasing them around the tank and then temporarily putting them in a different environment.
During fish tank maintenance you do not need to remove all the water anyway. You can remove a quarter up to half the water and then replace it with clean water. It is best to put pure water without chemicals like chlorine into the tank.
Many aquarium owners perform too much fish tank maintenance. It is generally not a good idea to clean the tank that often. Many people remove everything from the tank; gravel included, and will clean it thoroughly. The problem with this is that it removes the good bacteria that the fish need to remain healthy. If the fish tank is getting overly cloudy and filthy then you should look into getting better filters and ensure that the water is getting oxygenated well enough.
Little things can help with fish tank maintenance as well. Over feeding your fish can lead to the water getting cloudy and polluted. The fish will be tempted to over eat and could die as well.
Fish tank maintenance is something that you should not do a lot of actually. The more you have to do to clean the tank then the more you need to look at how effective your filters and oxygenation system is working. Ideally you want the fish tank to become a self-sustaining system and not one that you are burdened with fish tank maintenance all the time.
Fish tank maintenance is not something that should burden the aquarium owner. You should very rarely have to clean the fish tank because just as in nature you will have found the right balance and the system will sustain itself naturally.
Chris has been taking care of fish tanks for most of his adult life. He enjoys tropical fish and has maintained more fish tanks than he could count. Interested in finding out more about Fish Tanks? Click here to visit our website.
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