How to Maintain a Tropical Fish Tank

Tropical fish care and aquarium maintenance go hand in hand when considering a tropical fish tank. But how do you maintain a tropical fish tank once it is all set up? Is tropical fish tank care a constant task or something that can be kept on top of? Read on for our quick guide on how to maintain a tropical fish tank and ensure everything goes swimmingly.

Is it Hard to Maintain a Tropical Fish Tank? 

Once you have gotten into the routine of maintaining your fish tank, it shouldn't be an overwhelming task to maintain. As long as you are set up correctly with the right equipment and follow some easy guidelines on how to maintain your tropical fish tank, it should be relatively simple, leaving you to enjoy your aquarium. One thing that will make it easier to maintain your tropical tank is to avoid overstocking. Whilst it might be tempting to fill your tank to the brim with all types of colourful tropical fish, this may cause an increased build-up of waste. Meaning, you will need to clean your fish tank more frequently.

How Often Should I Clean My Tropical Fish Tank?

You should do a basic clean of your tropical fish tank every other week to avoid a build-up of nitrate, as well as to keep it looking fresh. Changing the water of your tank is an important part of maintaining your fish tank. Changing the water of your tropical fish tank is the best way to rid your aquarium of any organic waste produced periodically.

It is worth remembering that to clean your tropical fish tank, you don't need to empty all of the water out. Rather, you will need to remove around 10-15% of the water at a time.

How Do I Maintain My Tropical Fish Tank?

There are a number of steps you can take to care for your tropical aquarium. We've split these up into daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly tasks to take care of your tropical fish tank properly.

Daily

• Check your equipment to ensure it is working.

• Check your fish during feeding time, are they behaving normally?

Weekly

• Count your fish. If there is a dead fish somewhere in your tank, this could cause issues with the nitrate levels in your tank.

Fortnightly

• Test your tank's PH and Nitrate levels. Your PH level should remain stable to ensure a healthy tropical fish tank, this should be around 6.5-7.5 fr most species. Nitrate levels should be under 10ppm for freshwater tanks and under 5ppm for saltwater or reef aquariums.

• Clean the Tank Walls. You can buy a magnetic scrubber for a relatively low cost for a quick clean of your fish tank walls.

• Change 10-15% of your fish tank's water to ensure you are ridding the tank of any harmful build-up.

• Rinse your filter inserts with the water you have extracted from your tank.

Monthly

• Replace your tank filter inserts and rinse the entire filter if you need to.

• Do a quick check of your tubing and connections as well as any airstones to ensure they are still working as they should.

Top Tips on How to Maintain a Tropical Fish Tank

• Use a water conditioner when changing your water. Water should be free from chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals when you ad dit to your tropical tank.

• Periodically remove any figures from your tank to give them a quick scrub. Bacteria loves to attach itself to objects such as these so it is worth giving them a quick clean if you spot any build-up.

• Don't use hot water to adjust the temperature of your tropical fish tank. This can dramatically shock the fish.

• When using tap water for your aquarium, let the tap run for a minute to get rid of any dirt particles that may be caught.

• Vacuum the gravel at the bottom of your tank. This will remove small particles before they cause a build-up of ammonia in your aquarium.