How to Clean a Dirty Aquarium - The Frightening Task Made Easy

Do you need to know how to clean a dirty aquarium? This guide will ease you through the daunting task. Keep in mind though that it might take up to half an hour (depending on the size of your aquarium and how dirty it is). Before you start to learn how to clean a dirty aquarium, however, make sure that you have the proper materials with you: a five-gallon bucket (uncontaminated from chemicals and soap). Secondly, you will need a hose or gravel cleaner. Lastly, a sack of sea salt will be required to assist the refilling of water in the aquarium.

Once you are fully prepared with the proper materials, you are ready to know how to clean a dirty aquarium. At the start, if you have a heater for your tank, make sure it is unplugged. After twenty minutes of unplugging it, remove the heater carefully. Remember while removing the heater that the glass on the heater is very fragile. Also, be sure to never to dip your hand inside the fish tank unless the heater is unplugged or else you could easily get shocked (Aren't you glad that you know how to clean a dirty aquarium properly?).

The second thing you will do, if you know how to clean a dirty aquarium properly, is to remove any ornaments placed inside the tank as those will block some of the dirt that you wish to clean. Next, if a gravel cleaner is not available, you will need to dip your hand inside the aquarium and mix around the gravel (which are the rocks at the bottom of the aquarium) to lift the dirt stuck in between the gravel into the water. Use your hose to pull out the water into the bucket. Do not spill out the water as it will be useful in cleaning the filters.

The answer to 'how to clean a dirty aquarium' is different if a gravel cleaner is available. Pressure the plastic tube till end into the gravel and then leak the water into the bucket. Constantly (about every second), shift the gravel cleaner slightly (about one inch). After you have safely poured out about 3/20^th of the water into the tank, be assured that the gravel is clean.

This is where you clean your dirty aquarium filters. In order to protect the beneficial bacteria which reside in the filter, we must clean the sediments of the filters in the same bucket that has the dirty water. To do this, rinse the contents of the filters in the five gallon bucket of dirty water. After that, properly place the filters back.

The next step in that this how to clean a dirty aquarium guide will instruct you to do is to add sea salt into the tank and then fill it with water. The proper ratio that you need is around sixteen ounces of sea salt (one cup) to fifty gallons of water. Before you add your water to the tank, ensure that the temperature of the water is within one or two degrees of the water previously in the tank. If the fish sees a sudden change in temperature, then it can frighten them and weaken their immune system or possibly cause their death (which should not happen if you know how to clean a dirty aquarium correctly). To get the perfect temperature, you may pour hot water in another bucket and then wait for it to cool down to the desired temperature. After carefully refilling your tank, turn on the filter and the heater. Voila! Now you are fully trained on how to clean a dirty aquarium.

Hopefully, you have learned how to clean a dirty aquarium and the next time you face this task, this 'How to clean a dirty aquarium' article will guide you through a safe and effective process.