9 Tips To Help Maintain A Healthy Aquarium

An aquarium can be a beautiful piece of decorative for your home. To ensure your pet fish are in the pink of their health, you need to have a well-maintained tank. MakaanIQ gives nine tips that will help you maintain a healthy aquarium.

• Change water: For a neat and healthy tank, change 25 per cent of the aquarium water at least once a month. This practice maintains a safe level of nitrate concentration in water which is good for the health of your fish. Use a gravel vacuum to drain out the waste and extra water.  

• Maintain proper light: Plants and fish inside the aquarium require regular lighting. Make sure that the aquarium is not over- or under-exposed to light. Light up the aquarium for 8-10 hours a day. To ensure this, fix a timer inside the aquarium.

• Medication: While using medication, testing the water and additional water change is a must. Also, to remove the residual traces of the medication, use carbon.

• Water temperature: For a healthy aquarium, it is important to maintain an adequate water temperature. Avoid placing the aquarium near places like a window or heater or AC vent, where the inside temperature could rise. A sudden change in temperature could be fatal for your fish. The ideal temperature for tropical freshwater fish ranges from 22 degrees Celsius to 27 degrees Celsius, depending on the species.

• Acidity level: Keeping a check on the acidity and alkalinity of your aquarium by maintaining proper pH levels. For freshwater fish, the ideal pH value ranges from 6.6 to 7.8. This range offers a natural antiseptic effect for the fish to fight illness.

• Enough room: Give your fish enough room to move about inside the aquarium. Overcrowding the aquarium leads to lack of oxygen in the water. It also degrades the quality of the aquarium water, as the filter gets clogged because of the excess waste generated.

• Remove algae: Algae usually develops on the sides of the water tank; make sure that you remove it. There are a variety of tools, including scrub brushes and algae magnets, which take off algae from the water easily. If left unchecked, excessive algae growth in the water tank can deplete the much-needed oxygen for the plants and fish.

• Timely feeding: Create a feeding schedule for your fish and follow it religiously. Also, avoid overfeeding; it can make the fish sick or even kill them.  

• Condition the water: Use a biological aquarium supplement and de-chlorinating agent, available at your local pet store, to condition water in the tank on a regular basis.