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A clean fish tank looks great and provides a nice home for your fish. Over time, chemicals like nitrates can build up in your fish tank, which leads to a cloudy appearance. Even if you use a fish tank filter, it’s still important to hand-clean your aquarium.
These steps will outline how to clean your fish tank and what you can do to make sure it doesn’t get cloudy.
Steps for Cleaning
Before you begin. It’s best to keep your fish in the fish tank when you clean. Removing them causes unnecessary stress for your fish, and you run the risk of accidentally hurting them. It is possible to keep your fish in the tank while you clean because you don’t need to remove all the water to clean the tank properly.
Completely replacing the water in the fish tank is a bad idea because it will remove beneficial bacteria that live in the tank and reset the nitrogen cycle, which could kill your fish. If you regularly clean your tank, doing a partial water change is the best option.
Also, when you prepare to clean your fish tank, it’s ok to leave plants and decorations in place. These only need to be cleaned when they begin to look dirty.
Start with the sides: To begin cleaning your fish tank, start by unplugging the heater and filter. You can then scrape algae off the sides of the tank. If the sides of your tank are made with acrylic instead of glass, it’s recommended to use a plastic (rather than metal) scraper.
Clean the gravel: After you finish cleaning the sides, you can start with the gravel. You can use a siphon to vacuum dirt and other gunk off of the gravel. You can also use the siphon to remove a portion of the tank’s dirty water. Remember to keep at least 50% of the water in the tank at all times in order to avoid removing all of the beneficial bacteria from the tank.
Finish the cleaning: After you’ve finished cleaning your tank, you can refill the tank with new water. Make sure the new water you put in the tank has already had the chlorine removed using a conditioning treatment. This is the only time you should add water to the fish tank.
Clean plants, rocks, and decorations: Occasionally, when plants, rocks, or decorations become visibly dirty, you will want to clean them. Remove these items from the tank and scrub them under running water or leave them to soak in water overnight. After they are clean you may carefully replace them in the fish tank.
You never want to use any kind of soap when you clean your fish tank. It can kill your fish.
Credited by: Ilene Clyburn-Morrison