How to clean the aquarium at home. How often you need to clean the aquarium. How to clean the soil in the aquarium. What fish clean the aquarium

The aquarium of the house is a whole world, amazing and special. You can watch for hours the graceful movements of its inhabitants. The aquarium in the house will help restore the nervous system, relieve tension after a hard day. But if he is not well -groomed and dirty, it is impossible to admire its inhabitants, the mood immediately falls. Therefore, if you want to start aquarium fish, you need to know how to clean the aquarium.

Many people who only dream of buying an aquarium and buying fish believe that the aquarium does not need to be cleaned, and snails and special fish will perform all the work. Yes, there are “orderlies” and snails that help clean the walls of the aquarium from plaque, but this is not enough. All the same, you will have to periodically clean the aquarium.

Why do you need to clean the aquarium from a plaque

How many times to clean the aquarium? The frequency of purges depends on the size of the aquarium. So, if the vessel is large, about 200 liters of water fitting into it, then the aquarium will have to be cleaned every 2 weeks. If the aquarium is small - 1 or 2 times a week.

In order to find out how often it is necessary to clean the tanks, conduct testing for nitrate. If this substance is in excess, the water must be cleaned. The content of nitrate should not be higher than 20-30 mg per liter of water (if the fish are unpretentious) and from 5 to 10 mg per liter of water, if the fish love clean water and picky. It is undesirable to replace the water completely in the aquarium, since this is no longer clean. A complete replacement of water in the aquarium is possible only in extreme cases.

If the aquarium is only bought, it also needs proper preparation. In order for the fish to feel well, it is necessary to wash the new tank with warm water with the addition of soda, dry and fill it with defended water half. After a day, you can add water to the upper mark of the tank, you also need to install a filter and decorations, after which you can run into a new fish aquarium.

There are several reasons why it is necessary to regularly clean the aquarium:

1. An increase in the number of fish in the aquarium. According to the norms, each fish accounts for 1.5-2 liters of water. The more fish, the more there should be an aquarium. If the vessel is small, it will be faster polluted by waste of the life of its inhabitants.
2. If the fish is overhack, they will not have time to eat all the food. Excesses will settle at the bottom, gradually decompose. Because of this, unwanted algae form, the vessel is gradually polluted.
3. Water stagnates. If in natural conditions in reservoirs the water is naturally updated, this will not happen in your mini underwater world and it is necessary to update water on your own. If this is not done regularly, the water will become muddy, and the vessel itself will quickly become polluted.
4. Intensive bright light - bright lighting contributes to the rapid flowering of water and the appearance of algae.

If you see that the walls of your tank are covered with a greenish raid, and the fish when moving lift muddy water from the bottom, it is necessary to clean the aquarium. But even after a week later, in a small tank, the water is crystal-clean, it is still necessary to update it, since there are many nitrogen compounds in such water, and the fish can suffer from a lack of nutrients.

How often you need to clean the aquarium

Cleaning the aquarium is not a quick, but necessary. You can’t rush and fuss, so as not to frighten the fish, for them this manipulation is a huge stress. Therefore, with weekly cleaning, it is important not to rush, do not make sudden movements and transplant the inhabitants of the mini-water world to another container.

How to clean the aquarium:

1. A ban on detergents and cleaning agents. Even if the aquarium is strongly polluted, it is still forbidden to use chemicals. Specialized stores sell special solutions for cleaning aquariums, but they can be used when water is completely merged from the tank.
2. During water cleaning in the aquarium, water does not need to be drained.
3. Turn off the electrical appliances that are available in the tank. First, we will find out how to clean glass in the aquarium. For these purposes, you will need a special tool - a magnetic scraper. It is sold in specialized stores and will help to cope with the task faster. When servicing the tank, there is no need to clean the walls with your hand, you need to disconnect the scraper into 2 parts, one insert one outside, the other from the inside. How to clean the walls of the aquarium: drive one half of the scraper along the outer wall, and from the inside the second half will smoothly move and clean the walls. If there are a lot of pollution, you can carefully clean them with a sharp knife or razor blade. But such manipulations are allowed only if you have a glass aquarium. If the vessel is made of organic glass, use a regular sponge for washing dishes or a nylon washcloth.
4. If you have already coped with this part of the task, you can wash water plants. First you need to cut the yellowed parts with scissors, then gently wipe all the plants and decorations with a sponge. As a result of the work done from the bottom, muddy water will rise, you need to wait a while so that the dirt settles to the bottom and continue to work. The most difficult thing is to clean the bottom. If you move the soil with your hands and air bubbles will rise from the bottom, the soil needs cleaning. A siphon is intended for these purposes, it is sold in a pet store. How to clean the aquarium with a siphon: insert a siphon pipe into the aquarium to the bottom and gradually move from one section to another. To drain dirty water, you need to substitute any container (for example, a bucket or a bowl). Be careful, since along with dirty water you can move a small fish or shrimp into the tank. For one cleaning, you can replace from 15 to 50% of the water, it all depends on the number of fish and other inhabitants, the power of the filter, the presence of living algae and other plants.

If there is no special siphon in the arsenal of a novice aquarist, you can use the usual hose. Its length should be more than the height of the tank by 3 times, the diameter is 15 mm. You need to put on the watering can and lower it to the bottom, pressing it tightly to the ground, from the other end of the hose you can gradually suck in water, merging it into the substituted capacity. To track how much dirty water is merged, put a mark on the aquarium, for 1 cleaning you can pour no more than 1/5 of the volume of water.

How to clean a filter in the aquarium

The filter must be cleaned: the small one needs to be cleaned every week, large-1 time every 1-2 months. It is advisable to clean the internal filter every 2 weeks, the external every 2 weeks - 2 months, depending on the degree of pollution. Determine whether it is time to clean the filter or early, only by observation. If the water comes out of the filter muddy, it's time to clean it.

How to do it:

1. The filter must be disassembled (according to the attached instructions).
2. Rinse in a separate container all parts in clean water at room temperature (cleaning and detergents cannot be added to the water). Experienced aquarists wash all the details of the filter in the water drained from the aquarium (relatively clean, not muddy water is taken).
3. After the device must be assembled and put in place.
4. As for water: you need to pour filter water or defended into the filter (defended within 5-6 days).
5. Through one cleaning to the filter, you can add minerals and vitamins for the inhabitants of your aquarium.

How to clean the aquarium with fish

Beginning aquarists often wonder how often you need to clean the aquarium, whether it is necessary to drain the water completely, what to do with the fish in the process of cleaning, how to clean the soil in the aquarium, etc.

The process of cleaning the aquarium was described above in detail, in this section we learn the answers to the frequently asked questions:

1. Water from the aquarium with standard cleaning cannot be completely drained.
2. How to clean the bottom of the aquarium: prepare a bowl or a bucket, a siphon or a long hose. The first cleaning after launching fish into a new reservoir - a month later, so that the inhabitants are adapted, are used to the new environment, soil and plants. Insert the siphon tip into the ground, clean the soil at the bottom gradually, in one place the siphon can be kept a couple of seconds. When the water becomes transparent, you need to move the siphon funnel to a new place. After cleaning the soil, fresh water must be added to the aquarium. Immediately after cleaning the soil, the water can be muddy, after a while it will become transparent.
3. How to clean the aquarium with plants: rotten and yellowed plants need to be removed, cut yellow branches and leaves. You can clean the accessories and very contaminated living algae using a special scraper. You can take out artificial plants to rinse them in clean water. You can not wash algae with the addition of chemical detergents. It is allowed to clean heavily contaminated artificial algae in water with salt. After processing, accessories need to be dried and returned back to the aquarium.

Now you know how to clean the aquarium at home and can keep the tank clean.

How to clean the aquarium correctly: tips

In order to maintain a home aquarium in cleanliness, observe the life of water inhabitants, it is important to adhere to these simple rules:

1. Plan cleaning the tank in advance, do not put off for later, since the fish may not wait for cleaning and suffocate in dirty water.
2. If you prepare everything, you can cope with these work in just 30-40 minutes.
3. If at the time of cleaning you forgot to put the water to stagger, you will have to skip the cleaning, since it is undesirable to fill not defended water.
4. The frequency of cleanings will depend on the filter power. For example, in small tanks with a volume of up to 40 liters, cleaning can be done every 14 days.
5. When you clean the soil with a siphon, move the device smoothly, without making sudden movements, since the fish are very shy.
6. When cleaning the soil, it is important not to clean it completely near large plants, since plants will be devoid of nutrients. Exclusion: if the stones are very contaminated.
7. Plants really do not like transplants, so it is undesirable to disturb them again.

Special funds for cleaning the aquarium

On sale you can see special devices and tools for cleaning home tanks with fish. It is forbidden to use household chemicals, only those that are sold in specialized stores.

What you need to buy for cleaning the aquarium:

• scraper (ordinary or magnetic), depending on the type of tank. Choose a scraper with a long handle if you have a large aquarium;
• siphon for cleaning the soil. This device can be replaced by a hose with a watering can;
• a few washcloths to make it more convenient to clean the walls in hard -to -reach places (where the scraper will not reach).

What fish clean the aquarium

There are such types of fish that clean the aquarium. Such fish are intended not only to admire them, they bring great benefits, since the tanks in which they live from pollution.

Cleaners of aquariums include: snails, guippics, ocilies, shell catfish clean the aquarium, swordsmen, as well as snails and shrimp.

Fish that clean the aquarium:

1. Somi are considered the most active “cleaners” of aquariums, thanks to their suction cup, which they are attached to the walls of the tank and clean all the pollution. Also, catfish are well cleaned by stones, snags, soil and large leaves of plants from pollution. Along with the pluses, these inhabitants of aquariums can harm plants, as fragile algae are too intensively jerking, damaging them. Large adults can poorly cope with the task assigned to them and be lazy. The best orderly of the aquarium is a large catfish “Royal Pakan”, but this large fish lives in large aquariums (at least 200 liters). He cleans the snags, soil and the walls of the tank well.
2. Little -grown: Guppiki, Pecilia, Swordsmen, Mollinesia. They will fulfill their functions if you keep fish of the same type with flocks (at least 10 pcs in one pack). But these types of aquarium fish are capable of maintaining only algae in order.
3. Carp: Siamese algae, epalsororins. These species of fish clean the growths on the leaves and stones. For an aquarium, with a capacity of 100 liters, it is enough to start only two fish. They get along well with other types of aquarium fish, they are unpretentious in leaving. Cons: growing up, begin to eat Javanese moss more than monitor the state of algae.
4. Freshwater shrimp perfectly clean aquariums of different sizes, climb into hard-to-reach places and purify algae from pollution better than sanitar fish. Females clean the pollution along the bottom of the aquarium, males - filter the dregs that rose from the bottom and loosen the soil. Small shrimp are not able to keep a home reservoir clean, and large can live only in large aquariums. Cross -legged shrimp are the most effective, but at least 5 large shrimp (4 cm length) will be needed for a 200 -lice tank with a volume of 200 liters. There are a lot of small shrimp, for 1 liter - one individual.
5. What snails clean the aquarium: some types of snails cope well with cleaning house aquariums. But due to the fact that they multiply rapidly, they begin to bring not benefits, but harm, as they fill everything around with their mucus.

Snails for the aquarium: which are better cleaned:

• tiger snail - well cleans the plaque from the walls of tanks, stones, leaves, decorative algae and snags. There is one minus: on the walls of aquariums, unsightly masonry of caviar leave;
• snail-Cherepach (Septaria)-it has a flat shell, it moves slowly, but it cleanses the algae well without damaging them. The only negative - leaves masonry of caviar on decorative elements;
• horned snail - miniature (grows up to 1.5 cm), climbs into hard -to -reach places, perfectly cleanses of pollution;
• corbicula snail-in height reaches 3 cm, well cleans the water of pollution. Able to skip up to 5 liters of dirty water (!). It gets along well with all the inhabitants of the aquariums, improves the microclimate. There are only a few snails per 100 liter of the reservoir (maximum - 3 pcs.). Cons: it dugs plants with thin roots and plows the soil;
• the killer snail (heen)-a predator, feeds on carrion (dead fish), enjoys food, live snails and shrimp;
• the ampular snail is large, it cleanses the walls of the aquarium well, feeds on food and dead fish;
• snail of Theodoks is a freshwater snail, but there are also subspecies that can live in aquariums with salt water. Mini-watermelons are well cleaned, algae do not spoil.

How to clean an aquarium with turtles

If a water turtle lives in your aquarium, the tank will have to be cleaned every 2-3 weeks. It is very important to keep turtles in clean water, so periodically you need to thoroughly wash the aquarium from pollution.

How to clean the aquarium:

1. The turtle must be pressed in a carrier, a bucket of water, a bowl, a spacious container. Water should be enough for the turtle to feel comfortable. It is temporarily necessary to put pebbles or peat in the container so that the turtle can not only always be in the water, but also get out of it to land.
2. Put the water heater and filter from the tank, disconnect from the network, remove all the electrical devices, gently rinse the parts that can be washed, wipe dry, return to its place. It is necessary to put items in its former places so that the turtle is not lost in the aquarium after cleaning.
3. Remove the rest of the large objects: plants, driftwood, stones. Everything needs to be folded in a spacious container, thoroughly washed under a stream of running water at room temperature.
4. The aquarium can be washed right in the bath if it is not heavy. The previous water needs to be drained, and the existing gravel or soil, leave. If the aquarium has a nutshell or peat, replace it with new ones after cleaning.
5. The aquarium needs to be washed, rinse the soil with water from under the crane.
6. The reservoir that contains turtles can be washed in water with the addition of white wine vinegar (100 ml per 4 l of water). You can also use a special tool for cleaning aquariums, which is sold in a pet store. Economics and powders cannot be used.
7. Wash the aquarium, soil, gravel and all the items that are in the aquarium with a sponge moistened in a diluted special tool. If the tank is not very contaminated, it is enough to rinse it with water at room temperature, rinse the pollution with a clean sponge for washing dishes.
8. The aquarium needs to be filled with pre -defended water, return all accessories to the previous places, install electrical appliances.
9. Check the temperature of the water in the tank. It should be not lower than +21 degrees (maximum +26.6 degrees). If the water is cool, it can be heated.
10. Carry out water testing for the pH, the number of nitrates and nitrites (the set can be purchased at the pet store). For the content of the turtles of the pH of water, there should be 7-8 units. If the pH level does not correspond to the norm, you need to add a special tool to the water that will help to increase or lower the pH value.
11. Not iodized salt must be poured into the water. 1 tsp is added to 1 liter of water. Salt to protect the turtle from diseases.
12. Return the pet back to the aquarium, give a treat so that the turtle does not worry.

How to clean the aquarium. Video