Freshwater Aquarium Maintenance is relatively easy to do. Regular maintenance will help to keep your aquarium sparkling. Water will need to be removed and added every week to every two weeks and the gravel at the bottom needs to be cleaned with a special vacuum cleaner. Always check the apparatus of the tank every day to make sure everything is working and the fish are thriving.
Water changing is one of the most important steps to keeping your aquarium healthy. Changing water keeps the chemicals at a level that is not toxic to fish in the aquarium. Many things make a tank dirty including waste from the fish, uneaten food, and the respiration of the fish and this can create ammonia which is toxic to fish. Toxins are removed when you do a partial change of water. Another thing that must be done to maintain your aquarium is to remove excess garbage from the gravel in the bottom of the aquarium.
When you are performing regular maintenance on an aquarium it is important that anything electrical be turned off and unplugged so that you do not get shocked by mistake. Turning everything off for just an hour or so will not do any harm to the fish. Remove all ornamental objects from the aquarium but leave live plants in. Gravel vacuums should come with the aquarium and if not purchase one at the pet store. You cannot do without one. Put the nozzle in the gravel and move it back in forth. This will stir up a great deal of dirt but keep going until the stuff coming into the tubing looks clean.
Purchase one bucket and use it only for aquarium maintenance and nothing else. To remove water from the aquarium put some plastic tubing in and the bucket on the floor with the other end of the tubing in it. Start siphoning out the water and remove about half. Once that is done you can slowly and carefully put fresh water back in but check the temperature because the new water should be close to the temperature as what was removed. If not you can shock the fish. If the place that sold you the fish told you to add dechlorinator do so before replacing the water. Check the pH of the new water. Normal pH for a freshwater aquarium is around 7 or 7. 5.
Filter cartridges need to be replaced on a monthly basis. If your air pump has a filter you will have to replace it regularly as well. Some filters can be washed with water and replaced. This will help your pump to last much longer. If the inside of the aquarium gets a little green you can use an algae scrubber pad on it just before changing the water. Also make sure to clean the hood monthly so that the lights will give the ultimate light to your aquarium.
Avoid overfeeding fish in a freshwater aquarium. The amount of food the fish eat in a 5 minute time period is what you should feed them, no more. Food that drops to the bottom of the tank makes the water cloudy and feeds algae. Find out how many times a tank of fish needs to eat from a pet store. There are some that should be fed once a day or twice a day and some less. With regular maintenance your aquarium should provide a healthy environment for tropical fish for a long time.