Fish are easy-to-care pets, because they need a little food, clean water and oxygen. Besides, it’s relaxing to stare at the fish tank, watching the under-water life!
Well, to benefit of the under-water activity, you have to clean the fish tank once a week, and I will relate in the lines below the entire process of indoor fish tank cleaning.
Tools you need to clean the fish tank:
First of all, it’s important to have all the necessary things ready before you start, including towels, because it’s possible to spill water while cleaning the fish tank.
Don’t forget that the main objective is to disturb the fish as little as possible. That is exactly why you must gradually remove the water. Here are the necessary cleaning tools:
- 1 empty bucket
- clean towels
- soda bottle
- 1 algae scraper
- water softener
How to clean the fish tank?
I remind you again that you must be very careful not to bother or damage the fish in any way. Here is how to proceed:
- Wrap the towel around the fish tank to absorb the water that you will most likely spill. If one towel is not enough, bring another one.
- Carefully remove all the fish tank decorations and clean them with a sponge and hot tap water.
- Be careful to remove all traces of algae from their surface, and don’t use abrasive cleaning products, as they can leave debris inside the decorations, which may affect the fish.
- Clean the fish tank glass inside with an algae scraper. Clean up slowly from top to bottom and bottom to top. First use the hard part of the scraper, and then the finer part.
- Then use the net to remove the dirt deposited on the surface.
- Then remove a part of the water with the soda bottle (siphon). Put the small end into the water and the bigger part in the bucket.
- Push the siphon with light but fast movements until the water begins to pass through it. If you don’t have a soda bottle, you can use a pump to make your work much easier.
- Put the siphon on the dirty gravel to absorb some of the accumulated dirt. Be careful not to pull the pebbles that might remain stuck in the siphon.
- When the fish tank has 15 to 20% water inside, remove the siphon. You don’t have to clean all the gravel in the fish tank, but only some portions.
- Bring back the fish tank decorations.
Add clean tap water to the fish tank using the water softener. Pour the clean water slowly into one corner of the fish tank, not to disturb the fish.
Image Credits: Theglorifiedtomato
