How to care for an aquarium: rules

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

It has long been established by doctors that contemplation of an aquarium has a beneficial effect on the nervous system, helps to relax, and charges with positive energy. However, not everyone can have such pleasure at home.

The seeming simplicity of aquarium care is very deceiving and, with a frivolous attitude to this process, can turn into a real problem for some and absolute stress for others.

If you do decide to take on the extra hassle, then carefully read how to care for your aquarium and how to clean it. We present a brief information in this article, drawing attention to the most basic points of this responsible process.

General idea

For those who have never come across an aquarium in terms of caring for it, it is very important to familiarize yourself with what it is “from the inside”. Failure to understand the processes taking place in the aquarium environment leads to mistakes, each of which can be fatal for the fish.

After the aquarium is "started", it begins to live according to its internal biological laws, like any biosystem, for the life support of which balance and balance are important.

Unprofessional intervention can disrupt this fragile world, triggering unwanted processes that upset this biological balance. That is why it is necessary to follow all the rules of care strictly, not neglecting a single "trifle".

Typical errors

It is impossible to list all the mistakes of novice aquarists, we will cite only the most common ones:

• irregular cleaning of the aquarium;
• insufficient or excessive cleansing. Oddly enough it sounds, but radical cleansing is also detrimental to the existing bio-equilibrium of the aquarium, it should be carried out at a certain time, followed by a new "start" of the aquarium;
• use of low-quality water to fill the aquarium. If tap water is used, then it must be defended in containers without lids for at least 5-6 days;
• use of chemical detergents for cleaning. The fish themselves, as well as the entire biological environment of the aquarium, are very sensitive to even small particles of cleaning chemicals, for example, remaining on the sponge after using it for other purposes.
• overcrowding of the aquarium;
• suboptimal water temperature;
• irrational feeding of fish.

Factors Affecting Frequency of Cleaning

In order to correctly draw up an individual cleaning schedule specifically for your aquarium, you need to rely on the experience already gained, as well as on knowledge of the factors that affect the frequency of the work carried out.

The determining factors include:

• the size of the aquarium. The larger the aquarium, the more often you need to clean it;
• number of inhabitants;
• the optimal amount of vegetation and decor;
• the presence of natural orderlies of reservoirs. These include such inhabitants as snails, catfish, as well as plants with a sufficiently powerful root system for an aquarium, capable of independently processing waste and waste products of fish;
• optimal feeding. When excess food does not clog the aquarium;
• the presence of an effective filter.

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Approximate cleaning schedule

Experienced aquarists who have kept aquariums for many years willingly share their experience with beginners. Thanks to these tips, a general schedule of the necessary work has been drawn up, which is taken as a basis with the subsequent individual correction of the terms.

The work schedule includes:

• daily activities;
• weekly and more;
• semi-annual.

Daily compulsory works

If you decided to start an aquarium, then you were probably ready in advance to carve out some of your free time to take care of it, so you should not miss a day and spend every day:

• feeding. You choose the optimal regimen yourself, you need to be guided by how the fish eat food, the number of feedings 1 - 2 times a day. During feeding, the food should not fall on the ground, the fish should have time to swallow it.
• careful removal of food debris and waste products. The work is done with a special tube with a soft pear at the opposite end, the impurities are simply sucked into it, and then drained into the prepared container;
• observation of the behavior of the fish. In fact, this is very important, it is daily to observe how active the fish are and whether their appetite is good enough;
• constant temperature control. The temperature difference between the lower and upper layers of water should not exceed 3 * C.

Important note: When removing food residues and waste products, as well as carrying out other work inside the aquarium, you must act very carefully so as not to raise the dregs from the surface of the soil and not disturb it.

The fact is that the soil is one of the components of a single whole ecosystem of the aquarium, on the surface and inside of which there are beneficial aerobic bacteria, which have a positive effect on balance and balance.

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Monitoring the health of fish

This is another very serious headache for the aquarist to keep the health of the fish under constant control. There are plenty of diseases in fish, the symptomatology often overlaps with what is wrong with the fish, it is very difficult to determine, most likely it dies.

That is why you should not allow any deviations in the biosystem of the aquarium and carry out regular and timely cleanings, as well as preventive measures against bacteria and viruses.

Fish diseases can be classified as:

• fungal;
• bacterial;
• viral;
• parasitic.

With regular periodic inspection of fish, you should pay attention to the following signs of diseases:

• color change;
• mucous discharge;
• the appearance of unusual spots and bumps, as well as other neoplasms;
• bonding of fins;
• cloudy sclera of the eyes;
• bloating around the eyes;
• asymmetrical abdomen;
• non-adherent scales.

If any of the above signs are detected, the fish is immediately separated into a separate container for quarantine and further actions are considered.

Weekly cleaning of the aquarium

Every week it is necessary to thoroughly and competently clean the aquarium, for which the following work should be carried out:

• glass cleaning. Do not skip this important work, otherwise you risk contaminating the water in the aquarium and getting hard-to-clean organic deposits on the glasses. This work should be carried out with a clean sponge with high abrasive qualities or with a brush, as well as other devices sold in the pet store;
• "Siphon" of soil … To carry out this important procedure for weekly soil cleansing, it is necessary to acquire a special device - a siphon. With the tip from the siphon, carefully, so as not to disturb all the soil and fish, they are carried over the surface, drawing in the dirt, then draining them together with part of the water. Periodically, the tip is gently slightly deepened into the soil to clean it more deeply. When draining water, it is necessary to ensure that there is not too much glass of it, below we will tell you why this is important;
• cleaning of plants and decor. When some of the water from the aquarium is drained, it will become much more convenient to clean the plant leaves from plaque, as well as cut off yellowed and rotten leaves. If the vegetation has become too dense, we also carry out weeding with special devices.

Attention: when "siphoning" the soil, cleaning should not be carried out close to the powerful root system of plants, which itself is able to biologically cope with organic pollution, processing them.

Decor elements also need to be cleaned regularly; it is enough to wipe them right in the aquarium with your fingers. However, if there are signs of severe pollution, rusty or green coating, then the decor is removed and washed in settled water, but without the use of chemicals.

Attention: if necessary, for a deeper cleaning of the decor elements, you can use soda or a special product from a pet store.

Water change

This procedure belongs to weekly events, however, due to its special importance, we will single out it in a separate block of information.

Let's make a reservation right away that we are not talking about a complete change of water, this can be done only once every six months, when there is a radical cleaning of the aquarium with its subsequent "launch".

The fact is that, as we have already said, after starting the aquarium, a biological balance is established in it, such a balance is necessary for the internal microclimate in which the fish feel comfortable and do not get sick.

Water is not replaced every week, but is replaced, that is, part of the water is drained, fresh is added, but always settled. The volume of the weekly water change must not exceed 20% of the total volume.

Equipment

For an aquarium, it is necessary to purchase high-quality reliable equipment that will greatly facilitate this difficult work of care and maintenance.

As a rule, you can limit yourself to the following list of basic equipment:

• filter;
• backlight;
• aerator;
• heating system;
• thermometer.

Attention: It is very important to turn off electrical appliances when cleaning the aquarium for safety reasons.

It is also important that the equipment must not be turned off at night or during the day for a long period.

Cleaning the filter

Aquarium filters are:

• mechanical;
• biological;
• chemical.

The frequency of its cleaning depends on the design of the filter, which is indicated in the instructions. It is important to properly clean the filter, and it should not be cleaned in fresh water, but in the one that is drained during a partial change.

Such an important recommendation is also dictated by the fact that aeration also lives on the inner parts of the filter.