How to Maintain Your Saltwater Aquarium

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Dechlorinated water
Siphon

Step 1

Check your tank daily to make sure none of the fish are dead or dying.
Step 2

Observe them for a few minutes, checking each fish. This will familiarize you with their behavior, and will make it easier for you to notice if one is sick.
Step 3

Feed your fish every three days. Be sure to vary their diet.
Step 4

Top off the evaporated water with dechlorinated water and add calcium.
Step 5

Add iodine twice a week.
Step 6

Scrape the algae from the tank walls weekly.
Step 7

Schedule a weekly chore: Once a week remove 10 to 15 percent of the tank water and replace it with fresh dechlorinated water. This helps dilute unwanted chemicals in the tank. It also helps keep the tank's chemistry close to that of your own tap water. This means that you'll have fewer problems if you ever need to do an emergency water change.
Step 8

Siphon the debris from the gravel when you change the water.
Step 9

Test the water every two weeks. Wait at least a day after a water change. Check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, pH levels and copper if you have invertebrates.
Step 10

Check the filter pads every two weeks. Clean or replace them as necessary.
Step 11

Test the alkalinity monthly.
Step 12

Do a water change of 25 percent once a month.

Comments

blackkatxoxo said

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on 10/16/2009 A few tips to keep your tank clean:

Go to your local beach and go to the rock pools ~ you'll find plenty of snails - black ones, blue ones and if your lucky - giant ones or ones in curled shells.
Starfish are considered to be real great and clean allot and you may find that your rock pools have heaps BUT !! don't bring them home and put them in your tank!! The common starfish found in rock pools can't cope in different enviroments and will die immidiently and probably disese your tank so unless you are willing to put allot of work to it - forget it. It's much more work then just sraping out stuff.

Other than snails, buy some salt-sifting fish and they'll sift through anything that will fit in their mouth and out their gills. You might want to buy sucking fish for your walls but thats what youve got snails for.

If you go to a rockpool near a great reef then chances are : :

on 10/16/2009 b

on 10/16/2009 finishing of last comment: :

(read other one first)

you'll be able to find a sea slug or sea hare. These are great for clening tanks and they even breed - although you dont want to many. You should let most go once they are a deffendable size. keep one or two to clean up but the only downside is that they'll eat corrals and such.

If you buy all your fish then be warned - do not bring anything from the beach into your tank. no seaweed or live rock or sea sponge - nothing. It will just back fire making your tank dirty and unhealthy. The red algi (looks brown in colour and seems like seaweed) can grow tremendously and flow out like seaweed if it gets that bad and will often come from things from the beach. If this happens, yes, try to scrape it off the walls and you may want to clean your tank floor.