Are you a fish lover? Something other than grilled salmon with lemon sauce is what is meant here. You must be if you have them in your house in an aquarium tank and not the freezer. If you have had fish for a while, you definitely know how hard it can be to keep that aquarium tank clean. If you are new to all of this, you will soon find out. Don't worry about getting bored though, algae growth, ammonia levels and uneaten fish food will keep you quite busy. Let's look at these problems and figure out what to do about them. They say you shouldn't use the bathroom where you eat, but with fish in a tank there is no option obviously. The water will get very dirty with leftover food and fish you -know-what. You must have an aquarium filter to clean the water. These can run more money than you might have planned, but it is worth every penny. If you don't have one, you might be doing spring cleaning" every few weeks. That means scrubbing the tank after everything has been taken out. Make sure that whatever filter you buy, you know how to clean it thoroughly. You can cause more damage to your fish if your dirty filter messes up the delicate aquarium water balance. If you notice a problem with algae, you can try keeping the tank away from windows. Algae growth is affected by light, both natural and artificial such as fluorescent lighting. If you are using fluorescent lighting, don't keep it on for more than ten hours. Also keep in mind that fish have day and night cycles just like humans do. Algae can also be taken care of the old fashioned way. Put some algae eating animals in the aquarium. There is a fish called the Chinese Algae Eater which will feast on the unwanted growth in your tank; however they can become very aggressive as adult fish, so be careful lest they start feasting on the other fish in your tank. If you don't mind waiting days to get the job done, a good old dependable snail can take care of the problem. If you don't want to wait, manual labor will help. You can scrape the tank clean with a scraper bought at your local pet store. They also have things such as reverse osmosis and ozonization equipment that can help. Back to the old fish poop problem. Here is something simple and elegant that you can try. Put the gravel on the aquarium floor slanting toward the front of the tank. You will be able to see the material that has accumulated, however, make sure that there is not too much space between the gravel or it will hide everything and you will see nothing. One of the simplest and most overlooked things you can do to keep a clean aquarium is to be careful of how many fish you put in there. The more fish the bigger the tank needs to be to accommodate the proper amount of water. Unlike the open ocean or lake, your tank is a closed system. Just imagine living in a studio apartment with fifteen or thirty of your closest ex-friends. Remember, more fish means more fish poop, and that means possible high levels of ammonia. You should plan on cleaning your tank every two to four weeks. Don't worry if the water becomes yellowish in between cleanings. This could be do to the plants you have in there and not necessarily dirty water. Any longer than four weeks and the water could become toxic to your fish. Cleaning your aquarium tank may not be your preferred activity but your fish will love you for it.
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