Many people think that having fish is the route to having an ‘easy’ pet for kids or around the home. Lack of allergens, no fur, no scooping poop, no walks, no playtime. Keeping fish sure sounds like an easy-breezy household pet for folks who think a traditional cat or dog sounds like a lot more work and a real commitment.
But here’s the real rub. Fish are most certainly not a fuss-free pet to keep! Too many people mistake fish in a tank as an oversimplified way to keep a living thing in the home. In many ways, they are just as high maintenance as their furry or scaly counterparts.
The reality is that it’s never been as simple as plunking a goldfish from a plastic bag at the funfair into a bowl, and you just sprinkle from fish food on top every now and then. Such a fish would be the pinnacle of misery, with zero natural needs being met and certainly no real care for the environment they are inhabiting.
Anyone who chooses to keep fish needs to understand that they are very much a commitment, and they deserve the best possible care, just like larger mammals and reptiles do. Fish are completely reliant on whoever is looking after them to meet their needs and ensure that their environment is healthy, suitable for their physiological needs, and in peak condition.
This includes keeping that tank clean as a whistle, monitoring water quality, ensuring that you quarantine new items before adding to the tank, and keeping all parameters within safe levels. Your fish can’t escape water that is unfit to live in, and they can’t communicate like many other animals can until it’s usually too late and there is visible suffering.
It’s also a fallacy to think that smaller tanks are easier to keep clean. Not necessarily the case! Larger tanks are better able to cycle and keep water parameters stable.
Let’s avoid all of this and get to understand what you as a hobbyist need to do to keep your fish tank community and indeed their environment in tip-top shape. Caring for fish needn’t be an overwhelming prospect if you do the little things that need doing daily, thus avoiding a major tank overhaul. Deep cleans need to be done too, but they should be less stressful and needed less frequently when the daily routine is strictly adhered to.
Do I Need To Remove My Fish?
In almost every case, you should never remove your fish from their tank. The exception is for tiny tanks or bowls where there isn’t enough space to avoid stressing out your fish with the tools you need to clean their environment.
Ideally, you should do more frequent water changes for even the nano-tanks or bowls to avoid disturbing your fish as much as possible.
How Often Should You Clean Your Tank?
There is a difference between cleaning your tank, as in thoroughly, versus doing weekly water changes and everyday tank clean-ups.
Every aquarium will warrant its own schedule depending on the bioload of the inhabitants, the type of species, and how diligent the owner performs daily tasks.
For some people, a deep clean might happen twice a year and others monthly. It’s important to create good fish-keeping habits from the start. Keeping a diary of your tank tasks is important to record when you last performed key jobs as well as water conditions.
Many experienced members of the aquarist hobby recommend that you check your water chemistry every week if your tank is under a year old, as they have an immaturely cycled system in place. They can be more susceptible to parameter swings that may require adjustments and often quickly to avoid harming your community.
More established tanks with mature cycling can be tested every two weeks or twice a month. As long as the dangerous parameters to watch like ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are relatively stable, that time frame should be fine. If, however, you notice them fluctuating, then you will need to test more frequently until you resolve that instability.
Some people think that a fast and furious cleaning of the tank where everything is scrubbed within an inch of its life is ideal, but actually, that can do more harm than good. If you manage your water chemistry and can effectively manage algae levels naturally, you will have less disruption to your tank and your inhabitants.
Tools of the Trade for Effective Cleaning
This is a non-exhaustive list of things you will need for the average tank cleaning.
Some items may not apply depending on the tank size you own, but for the most part, this should form your checklist and delete as appropriate:
- Step stool (most tank stands are 2 – 3 feet high, and you do not want to lean on the glass, which can damage seals or risk cracking glass)
- Gravel vacuum (battery operated, these are less disruptive to water flow and your inhabitants)
- Siphon for water removal
- Algae scrubber or scraping blade
- Sponge (aquarium safe)
- Diary (to record what you do and when along with water testing results)
- Filter floss (removes free-floating debris)
- Airstones
- Bubble Up Filter with Pump
- Carbon and Zeolites for your bubble up filter to bind ammonia and nitrites
- Water Testing Kit
- Water Conditioner (removes toxins in tap water)
- pH Adjusters
- Water Softener/Hardener
- Nitrate and Nitrite absorbing pads
- Aquarium Salt (species dependent for livebearers etc.)
- Plant Care Tool Kit
- Plant Fertilizers
- Plastic Bags for getting water changes to temperature
- Suction Cups to anchor filters and air stones
Types Of Cleaning (and how often to do it)
There are six cleaning methods you will need to perform from time to time. In each of these cases, you need to turn off all power supplies and remove the aquarium hood. Your inhabitants can get very stressed during tank cleaning so take extra care to keep an eye out for jumping out of the tank!
After cleaning, you should scrub your hands and arms as some fish diseases can be transmitted to humans.
Type #1 – Live Plant Maintenance
Plants need to be monitored at all times, and you should make time either weekly or monthly, depending on the species you choose to plant. Some well-known fast-growing plant species will need weekly care; others that are more slow-growing can wait for monthly pruning and care.
You should:
- Remove leaves and parts that are browning, torn, nipped, or look like they are dying. If the entire plant looks relatively healthy, prune back older leaves first.
- Scrape off algae from younger leaves if visible and address the cause of algae overgrowth
- Propagate and fertilize as required
Fast-growing plants need pruning of around 50%, and slower ones can be adjusted down by half that percentage accordingly.
Type #2 – Chemistry
Water changes should not be your method for correcting excess amounts of the nasties like ammonia, nitrites, nitrates or to adjust pH.
To keep your chemistry healthy, you should:
- Check weekly for tanks < 1-year-old, and biweekly for tanks > 1 year old
- If ammonia or nitrites are detected, use zeolites as directed along with nitrite absorbing pads and monitor fish stress levels; keep checking every day until they lower to acceptable levels
- Check nitrates; your plants need them to grow, but if the levels are elevated, use nitrate absorbing pads and perhaps plant more in the tank to reduce levels ongoing
- Check water hardness, and if your fish look stressed, adjust gradually
- Check pH, and if it is outside optimal values, adjust gradually
- Check for carbonate, which can be a culprit for unstable pH levels
Type #3 – Removing And Managing Algae
Too much light, too much food for your fish, and too few plants will undoubtedly raise your algae growth potential. Water changes will not resolve this (not so little) problem either.
You will need to:
- Check your additives and fertilizers are not too high in phosphorous
- Keep nitrate levels lower, or algae will thrive off of that
- Perform an emergency clean if your tank community show signs of stress
- Reduce light intensity by 10% every 2 days so as not to shock the tank and cause an ammonia bloom with a mass algae die-off event
- Scrape algae as much as possible off surfaces with scrapers and a suitable sponge, including removing and washing/scrubbing decor in hot water
Take extra care not to scratch the tank glass when cleaning the tank walls.
Type #4 – Substrate Cleaning
By using air stones and the aforementioned Bubble Up Filter, you can easily clean gravel without changing the water.
With activated carbon and zeolites in the filter, you can vacuum the gravel to collect debris. Once finished, you can remove the filter and airstones.
Type #5 – Clean The Filter
There are beneficial bacteria in filter media, so wherever possible, avoid removing the entire media component. The biofilter is ideal to preserve for your tank and takes time to build up.
Change activated carbon minimum once a month but more often if needed.
When To Do An Emergency Clean
If your fish have been exposed to dangerous chemicals, require antibiotic treatment, are showing signs of ammonia or nitrite poisoning, a larger than usual water change might be needed.
You will need to:
- Condition the replacement water
- Check the chemistry
- Change all media in filters
- Install bubble up filter and air stones as well as nitrate absorbing pads
- Drain water and clean gravel
- Remove and wash/scrub all plastic decor
- Remove and wash small plants in clean, conditioned water
- Prune larger plants as much as possible
- Scrape all algae
- Reposition decor and plants
- Top off with conditioned water and re-test water chemistry and adjust pH, hardness, etc.
- Test again in 12hours/24hours/daily afterward until things settle
- Change all media in filters one more time
The Ideal Cleaning Schedule
This is the ideal shortlist for what you should be on the lookout for and how often to do so.
Daily Tank Maintenance
These are basic chores that are must-do’s if you want to avoid doing major cleans regularly. Doing these little things often is incredibly useful.
Every time you feed your fish, you must remove any uneaten food regardless of the form it takes: frozen, flaked, pellets, blanched vegetables, etc. The only caveat where this doesn’t apply is to live foods that will inevitably be eaten if not snapped up at the start and will otherwise engage your fish later.
Observe your fish and their behavior; does everything seem to be in order? Does everyone look happy and healthy? This is where that diary comes in handy once again. Make notes if anything looks amiss so you can monitor. Make your diary your bible.
Check water temperature and specific gravity of the water every single day.
Weekly Tank Maintenance
Check your water chemistry (less often if it is a maturely cycled tank that is well established).
Check your equipment like the filter, heater, lighting, seals, etc., to ensure all is in good working order.
If you stick to doing the little things on a regular basis and take pride in providing the best possible environment for the fish you keep, cleaning your tank should not be a task done begrudgingly.
Tanks take pride of place in the home for many aquarists as they are indeed a focal point with a high level of interest and observation. Doing partial water changes as advised for your tank community depending on their bioload/waste production, you should find maintaining your tank an enjoyable process that yields beautiful results in your fish.
Your fish will appreciate the efforts of your labor, and you will have a tank that will be widely admired. This is what we strive for in this hobby!
Ensure you keep on top of things, and you will find the aquarist lifestyle a very rewarding one indeed.
