Fish Tank Maintenance

Maintaining your fish tank can seem time consuming as a part time job, but the appearance and health of your tank should provide the motivation.  Keeping a clean and well maintained tank is essential to the survival of your fish and plants as well as to your long term fish-keeping success.  As a beginner it might be difficult to get into the swing of maintaining your tank.  Eventually, however, with frequent testing, you may find a balance in your tank which requires less cleaning and other maintenance. 

The tools you will need for your tank maintenance, as well as how often your tank needs cleaning or adjusting, will vary depending on the type of tank, whether it is a saltwater or freshwater tank, the type of substrate in your tank, and whether you have live plants, live rock, or other natural cleaners in your tank.  Here are some key things to remember with respect to tank maintenance:

-Make a Schedule:
If this is your first tank, making a maintenance schedule at first will keep the tank cleaner than trying to guess at when it needs to be cleaned.  Try cleaning the tank once a week to start and if it seems like this is more than necessary, spread it out gradually until you find a schedule that works for you and your fish.

-Monitor the Light and Temperature of your Tank:
By planning ahead and doing the necessary research, these two elements can be taken care of from the get go.  Know which fish and which plants you plan to keep and how much light and heat they need.  Make sure you don't combine cool water plants with warm water fish or vice versa.  Once you have a tank planned correctly, however, you will still need to monitor the lights and temperature of your tank to make sure nothing goes wrong.

-Familiarize Yourself with Water Chemistry:
            In addition to monitoring light and temperature, the pH, nitrite, nitrate, chlorine/chloramine, and ammonia levels need to be checked daily.  This shouldn't take more than a few minutes and can be done at the same time as feeding.  By keeping daily tabs on these levels, you are more prepared to respond quickly should something change.

Tank maintenance is a key aspect of fish-keeping and will undoubtedly contribute to the success of your tanks.  In addition, there are some helpful fish care tips which will make your efforts go even further.