#tank maintenance

[up2fishy-buisness]

shots but with of one of these

[photozoi]

Wyatt and friend waiting for the window washing to begin.

(He is very particular about the condition of his living room window. I just did maintenance and a water change, so it got messy.)

[nerdstorming]

When your marimo

identifies as Kirby.

[aquatic-obsession]

before and after tank maintenance on the pea puffer and community tanks!

[startedoutwithafish]

Tank cleaning routine

Tank size: 29 gallon, planted tank

Stocking: 1 giant betta, 2 zebra nerite snails

Daily:

Clean glass with magnetic sponge, check temperature and filter flow

Weekly:

Twice per week, I do a 5 gallon water change. I use a razor to clean all the glass, a toothbrush to clean the decor and plant leaves. I sometimes get alge on my substrate so I will break that up and make it free floating.

Then I use a self starting siphon to get detritus and loose alge off the substrate. I then place the siphon on some decor so my fish won't get sucked up into it. Once the bucket is full of water, I use it to water my plants!

Now I check all my plants and look to see if a trim is needed. I have some stem plants that I propagate every few weeks.

I use a python to fill up my tank, as it's down stairs from my kitchen sink. First I check the water temperature with a spare thermometer to be sure it matches, then I put the water conditioner in. I don't start running the water into the tank until I have put in the water conditioner to prevent any chlorine from entering the tank. One the tank is full, I wrap up the python and store it in a fish-only garbage can.

Tips

If you don't have a siphon, you can go to the hardware store and get vinyl tubing for really cheap!

Some people use low from water pumps to take water out of their tanks! I used to do this before I got my self start siphon.

[theredbettafish]

Soo... my mental health has been kinda up and down lately. I’ve been able to take care of the basic needs of my other pets because they are persistent and will bark or meow or the litter box will smell when their needs need to be meet. Da Vinci isn’t so lucky. I have mostly been keeping up with water changes but not tank maintenance. The before picture is a really low point for me. I obviously hadn’t cleaned the glass in awhile and I haven’t done a water change in two weeks ( the water is so low because it is really dry here and it evaporates fast). I did a water test and thankfully nothing was too crazy, the nitrites were high but not off the charts or anything. I’ve started feeling better lately. I’ve dropped a class that was too much for me, I got a really chill job to help with my finance stress a bit, and my parents have been taking shifts visiting me to help me out. So I did a really deep tank clean today. I’ve rearranged things to make water changes easier on myself and wrote down a tank care schedule in my planner. If I find myself getting to this point again and Da Vinci’s care gets pushed to the side I may have to give him to my sister to care for. I really don’t want to do that but I also want to make sure he is happy and comfortable.

[betta-resplendent]

that moment when you open your bag of IAL and realize you’RE ALMOST OUT.

SHIT.

[tigerthebetta]

Aquarium Salt Advice

So for bettas I love aquarium salt, and use it in my 3 and 5 gallon betta tanks. But as much googling as I've done, I can't get specific advice to my 10 gallon. I have 1 betta, 7 harlequin rasbora, 1 SAE, 1 assassin snail and possibly no more pond snails. I'd like to add salt for my betta as his fins are looking a little rough, but I don't know how it would effect the others? Should I just give my betta a salt bath? I'm fine with rehoming the assassin snail, but I'd like to keep the fish I have.