How to clean your fish tank
The secret to having happy and healthy fish is to make sure you regularly clean your fish tank; there are ways to go about doing this which vary greatly on the type and size of fish tank you have as well as how many fish you own.
If you have a regular bowl-type fish tank you will need to clean the whole tank out once a week. To do this you will need to get a smaller bowl and scoop some of the tank water into it – this is to hold your fish whilst you clean the tank.
Catch the fish in a net or similar and put them gently into the smaller bowl; now you are ready to clean the tank.
If the tank is light enough for you to pick it up and move it with the water inside then do so; but lift with your knees and be careful not to spill the dirty water on your carpets. You will need to completely empty the fish tank and remove all of the stones and decorations for washing as well.
Once the tank is empty you can clean the bowl – wash it with warm soapy water and an old cloth; then use a fish-friendly disinfectant. It is essential that you don’t leave any cleaning fluid residue inside the bowl as this could kill your fish.
Once you have a clean bowl put all of the stones into a sieve and wash them through thoroughly; a lot of bacteria collect on these so it is a good idea to give them a good scrub – the same goes for any decorations you might have.
Once you have completed these steps, put the stones and the decorations back in to the bottom of the bowl and re-fill the fish tank to nearly full. Take the fish tank back to where it usually sits and put the fish along with a little of their dirty tank water in with them.
This may sound odd but the old tank water will be comforting and familiar to your fish – if you put them straight into the new water they will get confused and disorientated.
If you are lucky enough to have a fish tank with a filter then you only need to clean out one third of the tank water every week; you will need to clean out the whole tank every three to four weeks depending on how many fish you have and the size of the tank.
You should replace the filter on your fish tank around every six weeks to make sure your fish tank is a healthy environment for your fish to live in.