General Maintenance for Saltwater Aquariums

General Maintenance for Saltwater Aquariums - One of the most important things when it comes to your saltwater aquarium is performing general maintenance on a regular basis. These are key to keeping your tank healthy. It will be easy to tell if you do not do these things on a regular basis also. If you do not then you will have some beautiful algae growing in your tank. Getting rid of that all starts with these basic things being done on a regular basis.

1. Change out your carbon as specified by the manufacture. This is very important because the carbon eventually will stop working. It is an important element in cleaning out the elements that algae needs to grow.

2. Do water changes every week or every other week. If you change your water every week you only need to remove 10-15% of your total water volume and replace it with new saltwater. If you do it every other week I would recommend doing a 20-30% water change. These ranges depend on how your tank is doing. If algae is present do the higher end, if not, the lower should be fine as well.

3. Replace evaporated fresh water every other day at least. Your tank will have water evaporating from it constantly. It is extremely important that you are constantly replenishing this lost water. You will want to put in freshwater since when water evaporates it leaves behind the salt. Be sure to get a hydrometer so you can keep the salinity at a stable level. Also be sure to use RO/DI water when doing any type of water change. This is water that has been passed through a special reverse osmosis and/or a deionization machine made especially for marine aquariums in order to make it pure. This is extremely important. If you use any other water you will find that algae will grow very well.

4. Pick out any algae that you can see whenever you are feeding. This will help slow down its grown. If you do this consistently enough, along with performing all the other maintenance you will find that you will eventually win the battle against the algae.

5. Clean out any filter material weekly. This includes sponges, floss, etc. Be sure to do this or the material that builds up on it will actually contribute to your algae growth. I would recommend using a sponge to help catch solids.

If all these maintenance routines are followed you will have a much cleaner and healthier aquarium. There are many other things that you can do if you really want the best tank that you can have. Be sure to do some research on it once you master these items.