There can be times when your aquarium may become extremely dirty regardless of your efforts. If you are thinking to empty it and start right from scratch, then first wait and take a deep breath! If you just tear it down, then there are chances that you will lose beneficial bacteria that have already colonized the fish tank.
If you want to clean this mess in the best possible way, then this article will help you out! There are many other tasks that can help you take care of your fish tank. You can read about them just by visitingFish Tank Focus. For now, let us focus on cleaning your fish tank. Before we start, let us look what are the essentials and tools that you will need for the cleaning task. The following are the top things.
- Plastic razor blade
- Bucket
- Bleach
- Filter brush
- Scrubbing pad or algae scraper
- Water siphon
- Paper towels
- Filter media
- Aquarium glass cleaner
- Old bath towels
Clean inside glass first
With the help of an algae pad, clean the inside glass. You can get a variety of these algae scrapers in the market, right from magnetic ones to long handled scrubbers. It is recommended that you buy these pads from pet shop and not from house-wares department.
Time for cleaning rocks and decorations
Now that you have cleaned the inside glass, it is time to remove artificial plans, rocks, and any other decorations that have algae growth or are dirty. Make sure that you don’t clean them with soap since removing soap completely can be difficult. Even a slight trace of it can prove to be harmful for fish. Scrubbing it with algae scraper can remove dirt and algae from plants and rocks.
Live plants can easily be bleached. However, the stem plants shouldn’t be bleached. While vacuuming gravel, leaf decorations, rocks, as well as plants out of tank.
Clean Gravel
Use water siphon and vacuum away debris to clean the gravel. While this process will easily remove large debris, the smaller particles may pass through filter just to return to tank again. Ensure vacuuming the while surface of gravel to remove all debris.
Outside fixtures and glasses
Now it is time to clean light, hood, outside glass, and tank top. Ordinary or regular glass cleaners have ammonia in them that may be toxic to fish. So, it is highly recommended to use either vinegar or the cleaners that are aquarium safe.
Regular maintenance
So now you have a healthy and beautiful tank again. What next? Well, spare some time and make simple maintenance schedule. In this way, you won’t have to spend entire day for major cleaning again. Go for partial water changes at regular time intervals. Remove algae from décor and glass whenever you see it.
Once you take care of the above mentioned points, your aquarium will be your joy and new pride all over again. Just make sure that you take care of proper maintenance.
