How to Chean A Fish Tank 100% Today

Fish are some of the greatest pets that you can have in your home. Not only are they pretty but also incredibly easy to maintain as compared to other pets.

Additionally, fish are pets that do not require cuddling or much attention from you as their owner. However, this does not mean that you can completely neglect them.

Without cleaning the fish tank, you will have green algae covering the fish tank, which causes health havocs to the fish. For this reason, for you to maintain your beautiful and healthy fish, it is necessary to clear tank at least twice a month.

Fortunately, with the right tips, getting rid of all the accumulated food, fish waste and other unnecessary items in the tank is a walk in the park. Today, I will take you through some of the easiest, fastest and most economical ways to keep your fish tank clean.

Table Of Contents

Step One- Preparation

Step Two: Prepare Yourself and Your Working Space

Step Three: Move the Fish

Step Four: Clean the Toys

Step Five: Scoop Some Tank Water and Save It

Step Six: Remove the Algae

Step Seven: Clean the Decorations and Rocks

Step Eight: Siphon the Aquarium Gravel

Step Nine: Clean the Glass, use Lime Cleaners

Step Ten: Returning the Fish Tank to Its Original State

Ideally, without proper maintenance, water in your aquarium can quickly become harmful. This is mainly because of the food that you feed your fish on and the fish waste that they produce.

However, despite the kind of aquarium that you have, cleaning it is never hard. Here is a guide on how to clean your fish tank including fiberglass fish tank  and keep your fish always staying healthy and swimming happily.

Step 1- Preparation

Razor blade

Filter media

Filter brush

Paper towels

Lime Remover

Bucket- preferably a new bucket that is only for this purpose

Algae scraper

Water siphon

Water testing kit

A salinity probe

Powerhead and heater

Fishnet

You can purchase what you may lack among these items from your local pet store or grocery. Additionally, do not ignore any of the things as they will be necessary for making the fish tank cleaning process easy and most effective.

The estimated value of all recoverable materials in a year's e-waste is around $73 billion CAD – more than the yearly GDP of a lot of countries.

Step Two: Prepare Yourself and Your Working Space

After gathering all the necessary items, you need to get yourself and your working space ready. This includes preparations such as placing towels on the floor to ensure that they catch any spilled water.

Additionally, ensure that you are well dressed for the task. For instance, you may consider wearing a bathing suit or a short-sleeved shirt for the job.

Having water-resistant shoes on such as flip-flops or water shoes will also be a good idea. Again, where applicable, ensure that you unplug the aquarium from the power socket.

However, leave behind hood lights to help illuminate the tank for easy cleaning. With such preparations, you will be ready to clean the tank without causing any havoc to yourself.

Step Three: Move the Fish

For you to clean your fish tank, you need to know to deal with the fish. First, check to see how they are; that is whether they are all looking healthy and whether there are any missing fins or lost color.

As you ensure your fish are okay, place them in a place you have initially prepared where they can stay during the cleaning duration. Use the fish net that you brought with you to help you catch the fish.

In case you do not have a fish net you could use a cup to catch the fish out of the aquarium you intend to clean. However, it is always advisable to use a fish net for you to ensure that they are all safe during and avoid hurting them.

Step Four: Clean the Toys

Ideally, some fish toys are found in your fish tank for the fish to play around with. When cleaning the tank, these should be the first items that you clean as they can be contaminated or slippery due to algae.

Use hot water and a clean filter to help you clean these tanks. Rub of the toys and rinse off the rocks to help ensure that you get rid of all the algae.

When cleaning the toys, however, it is advisable that you avoid using any chemicals. This is because the use of chemicals when cleaning fish toys ends up causing more harm than good.

After the toys are clean, wash the strainer and dry off the toys.

Step Five: Scoop Some Tank Water and Save It

Ideally, when you have finished the fish tank cleaning and putting back the fish, they will need some bacteria for them to survive. The water that is in the fish tank when you start cleaning the tank will be a good source of bacteria for the fish to use.

For this reason, ensure that you scoop some water from the tank and save it for later use. However, ensure that there are no pebbles and other unnecessary particles in the water that you set aside for saving.

After you set aside the water that you intend to use later, you can then dispose of the remaining water since you will replace it with fresh water later.

Step Six: Remove the Algae

More often than not, whenever you are cleaning your tank, it is likely that you will have some green matter in the tank. The green matter that you will see on the tank glass is algae which you should get rid of.

You can easily remove the algae using the magnetic algae cleaner that you brought with you. The magnetic cleaner consists of two magnets both of which have a soft felt covering.

Attach one of the magnets outside of the aquarium and the other in the inside. You will later drag the outer magnet, and the inner magnet will follow it getting rid of the algae.

However, in case you have an acrylic aquarium, ensure that you use a cleaner that will not damage the surface by scratching it.

Additionally, you can consider using a clean-up crew to eat the algae in the tank, thus leaving it clean. While there are many ways to remove algae, it is advisable to avoid using soaps or other detergents with chemicals as they can be deadly to the fish.

Step Seven: Clean the Decorations and Rocks

Once you have taken out the water and removed the algae in the inside, it is likely that the inside of your tank is clean. At this point, the next step is now cleaning the exterior of the fish tank.

This includes items such as artificial plants, rocks that you removed from inside the tank, decorations with significant algae growth, among others. One major rule when cleaning all these items is that you should never use soap as any remaining soap will be lethal to the fish.

Using a scrub of algae remover will be enough to get rid of all the algae and dirt from the decorations rocks and the artificial plants.

In case there are stubborn cleaning parts, you could prepare a bleach solution where you can soak the items for about fifteen minutes. Later you can scrub off any remaining residue, rinse the items in running water and let air dry to eliminate the residue breach.

In case you have live plants in your fish tank, it is also possible to bleach them. Here, you prepare the bleach solution which will not be so concentrated and soak the plants for about two to three minutes.

However, it is not possible to do the same for stem plants as they do not tolerate bleaching.

After this, you can now vacuum the gravel to get rid of the dirt on it. However, ensure that you put aside the other items that you had initially cleaned to prevent the debris from settling on them.

Additionally, ensure that the bucket you use for all these tasks is new or has never been in contact with soap. Otherwise, you risk leaving soap traces in your fish tank which, as stated earlier, is deadly to the fish.

Step Eight: Siphon the Aquarium Gravel

Use a water siphon to help you remove debris from the gravel. Luckily, there are many kinds of siphon available most of which work the same.

However, it is advisable to consider using python, since it draws dirty water directly to the sink; thus you will not need to use buckets. While vacuuming the gravel, it is important to remember that some of the water debris, especially the small particles could pass through the filter, thus getting back to the tank.

Therefore, ensure that you vacuum the entire surface to ensure that all debris is removed from the tank before taking back the fish.

Step Nine: Clean the Glass, use Lime Cleaners

At this point, the inner side of the fish tank and all that you put in the fish tank is clean. This means that the only part remaining for you to have a clean fish tank is the outside glass and fixtures.

Therefore, clean the hood, light, and the tank top. When cleaning these areas, avoid the use of regular glass cleaners since they contain ammonia, which is harmful to the fish.

Ensure that you only use vinegar or cleaners which have been confirmed to be aquarium safe. However, despite the cleaning agent that you use, ensure that you thoroughly rinse your areas to ensure the safety of your fish.

Step Ten: Returning the Fish Tank to Its Original State

After ensuring that you have well cleaned all areas of the fish tank, it is now time to take back the fish and other parts of the tank. During this step, it is essential to ensure that you are very careful to make sure that everything goes in as it is supposed to be.

First, take the tank water that you had saved; that is the water which contains the existing bacteria back to the tank. Additionally, add fresh water, which should be DE chlorinated back to the tank.

When adding water back to the tank, ensure that you leave some space for the water that is currently holding the fish. Later add about two drops of water dechlorinater to ensure that your fish stay in a chlorine-free fish tank.

To ensure that the water used is safe for the fish, you should later add a water conditioner. More afterward, add the decorative pieces back to the tank, as well as the bubbler and the filter.

After making sure that everything well places, you can then turn on the necessary devices to help the water turn around. You should then wait for about thirty minutes for the water to adjust before putting back the fish into the tank.

When putting back the fish, it is essential to ensure that the temperature of the tank is the same as it was when getting out the fish. Therefore, avoid, using refrigerated water back into the fish tank.

In case there were eggs laid in the gravel, it is essential to ensure that you avoid cleaning the gravel areas until the eggs are hatched. Additionally, in case the eggs have been laid elsewhere, ensure that you avoid cleaning that area until all the eggs have hatched.

However, most fish eggs hatch within a week and they should, therefore, not affect your cleaning schedule.

Conclusion

Setting out to clean a fish tank can at first seem like a task easier said than done. However, after getting ready everything that you need and heading out to clean the fish tank, the process now becomes more manageable for you.

Without cleaning your fish tank including  fiberglass aquaculture tank , you create an unhealthy environment for the fish, which rapidly reduces their lifespan. Luckily, even with a tight schedule, it is possible to set aside some time and use it to set create a conducive environment for your fish.

Use the information above and create a pleasant living space for your fish without necessarily buying a new fish tank.