How to Maintain an Aquarium

Maintaining a proper environment in your fish tank is essential to having healthy pets, and it is not difficult. In order to properly maintain an aquarium, you will need to perform daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly maintenance. If you stick with your maintenance schedule, you will find that keeping up with your aquarium is easy and enjoyable. If you skip a step on a regular basis, you will quickly find that your fish tank gets dirty and becomes an unhealthy environment for your fish.

Things You'll Need

  • Siphon hose and vacuum
  • Water chemistry test kit
  • Aquarium brush or filter floss
  • Water conditioner
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Change 10 to 15 percent of the water once every two weeks. If you are using tap water, use a water conditioner to take out the chlorine from the water. This is one of the most important steps to take as you maintain your aquarium and create a healthy environment for your fish.

    • 2

      Vacuum the gravel using a siphon hose with a vacuum attachment when doing the water changes. This takes much of the debris out of the aquarium gravel, making the environment much cleaner for your fish.

    • 3

      Test the water chemistry when changing the water. Use the water chemistry testing kit to check the pH, hardness, nitrite, and nitrate levels in the aquarium.

    • 4

      Add the necessary chemicals if nitrate or nitrite levels are too high. Your local pet store will have chemicals you can use to do this. Remember that high levels of nitrates and nitrites can be caused by an overcrowded tank, and these are very dangerous and potentially fatal to your pets.

    • 5

      Check the filter, heater and other equipment daily to make sure it is running properly. Observe your fish daily at meal time to make sure they are healthy and behaving normally.

    • 6

      Inspect your fish once a week, counting them to make sure there are none that have died. If you have a dead fish, locate it and remove it as quickly as possible. Decomposing fish can lead to dangerous chemical build up in the water.

    • 7

      Clean the walls of the aquarium once every two weeks. Use an aquarium brush or filter floss to do this.

    • 8

      Rinse the filter cartridges once every two weeks with aquarium water. Replace the filter cartridges every month.