One of the most important aspects of any aquarium is water quality.  Different species of fish, invertebrates, and even plants need specific ranges of water quality.  When you clean an aquarium and perform a water change, you generally use a water conditioner.  Water conditioners remove and/or neutralize harmful chemicals and metals, such as chlorine, ammonia, copper, or even selenium.

Water Changes

When I clean my aquarium, I generally start by removing any algae off of the glass.  I then siphon out 50% of the water (after I turn the power off to the filter, heater, lights, and CO2).  I then prune my plants, and remove any other algae that might be present.  I then add the amount of conditioner prescribed by the bottle label to the aquarium.  After that, I fill the aquarium up with water.  Then I turn the filter, heater, lights and CO2 back on.

Testing the Water Quality

Having a successful aquarium requires good water quality.  A good way to ensure you have good water quality is to test your water.  There are many test kits out there.  These kits can test a wide variety of parameters, such as pH, Carbonate (KH), General Hardness (GH), Nitrite (NO2), Ammonia (NH3 & NH4), and Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

When I’m following my aquarium maintenance schedule, I test my water once midweek, and do a 50% water change every Sunday.  If my water parameters are off, I do a partial water change and re-test.  If the second test is in range, I wait until Sunday for my regular water change.

Causes of Bad Water Quality

There are many causes of bad water quality.  Your aquarium might be overstocked, or you might not have a regular maintenance schedule, or an inhabitant may have died and you haven’t seen it yet.  Whatever the cause, you can have great water quality in no time.

Suggestions for Great Water Quality

• Make a routine maintenance schedule (and stick to it)
• Weekly water changes
• Clean your filters
• Test your water parameters regulary
• Watch the behavior of your inhabitants

Did I miss anything?  Do you have any suggestions?  Let me know!  =)

Every aquarium requires maintenance, whether it be saltwater, black water, freshwater, or planted aquariums. Maintenance can include water changes, top offs, cleaning the glass, trimming plants, or even adding fertilizers.

Here’s my weekly maintenance schedule:

Monday: 1/16 tsp Trace, 2 ml Fe, top off.

Tuesday: 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/16 tsp K2SO4, 1/4 tsp KNO3.

Wednesday: 1/16 tsp Trace, 2 ml Fe, top off.

Thursday: 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/16 tsp K2SO4, 1/4 tsp KNO3.

Friday: 1/16 tsp Trace, 2 ml Fe, top off.

Saturday: Clean aquarium glass with magnetic scrubber.

Sunday: 50% water change, prune plants, remove most of the duckweed, 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/16 tsp K2SO4, 1/4 tsp KNO3.

My fertilizer dosing is based on the EI (Estimative Index). You can find more info on it here or here.

Once a month I do a partial cleaning of my cannister filter. The reason I only do a partial cleaning is so I don’t kill all the beneficial bacteria.

That’s about it for my maintenance schedule. You might think it’s a lot of work, but it really isn’t.

I’ve been using the Fluval 205 for a little over a year now, and I love it.  I have it installed on my 26 gallon planted aquarium.  I use the Fluval foam sponges, Fluval Pre-Filter and the Fluval Bio-Max.  This cannister filter is for aquariums up to 200 litres (40 US gallons), and pumps a hearty 180 gph.  It has a total of 3 media baskets, and holds 4 foam sponges.  I also have a pre-filter sponge on the intake to protect my small fish from accidentally getting stuck to the intake.

Maintenance is a snap.  All you have to do is close the suction/discharge valve, unplug the filter, and disconnect the Aqua-Stop Valve.  I only clean my filter once a month, and I don’t clean the whole thing.  I clean 2 sponges, and one media basket, and I always rotate which baskets and sponges I clean.  That way, I’m not destroying all of the beneficial bacteria that lives in the filter media.  After I clean the filter, I reconnect the Aqua-Stop Valve, open the suction/discharge valve, and the filter automatically fills itself with tank water.  Once all the air is out of the filter, I plug it back in and I’m done.  Very simple.

Each filter comes with: Instant-prime system; single-motion lift-lock clamps; clog-proof intake strainer; dual-layer foam screen; and instructional DVD to ease set-up and use.

Fluval has plenty of other filter media available, including carbon, peat, Zeo-Carb, ammonia remover, nitrate remover, and water polishing pads.  For my planted aquarium, I do just fine with the foam sponges, Pre-Filter, and Bio-Max.

I definitely recommend this product.  Lots of flow, great media, and easy maintenance.

Disclosure: I did not get paid to review this product.  However, the image above does link to my Amazon Affiliate account.

When I started my 26 gallon bowfront aquarium a few months back, I started out with 10 neon tetras. I only have 7 left at this point. I’m not sure why I lost 3, but the others are very healthy. I plan on getting at least 4 more in the near future.

From Wikipedia:

Neon tetras are considered easy to keep in a community aquarium that is at least 60 cm (24 inches), with a pH of 6.0–7.8 and KH of 1.0–2.0.  Neons are best kept in a densely planted tank with subdued light and an ideal temperature of 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit to resemble their native Amazon environment.  Neon tetras are omnivores and will accept most flake foods, but should also have some small foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, freeze-dried bloodworms, tubifex, which can be stuck to the side of your aquarium, and micro pellet food to supplement their diet.

I’ve taken a ton of photos of my aquarium, and while the neons are definitely not camera shy, they move too fast for the current settings on my camera. I need to increase the shutter speed to get a clear shot. It also doesn’t help that I have a broken tripod.

I feed my neons a combination of flake and freeze dried bloodworms once a day. I also give them frozen bloodworms or frozen tubifex once every other week. They seem to enjoy this emmensely.

I also have other tank inhabitants, but I’ll save them for another post.

I have a strange nutrient deficiency (or something) going on with one of my plants. the leaves are curling and turning black. The black parts are fairly rough to the touch. I’m also still having trouble with string hair algae. I change 50% water weekly, and dose dry fertilizers, 1/16 tsp Trace & Fe 3x week and 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, K2SO4, 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x week. I think I’ll try increasing my CO2 injection. I need to find my drop checker. I have no idea where it is, and I really don’t want to order a new one.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Update: Seems that this is normal for this type of anubias.  I might also have a low phosphate level.  I’ve decided to up my KH2PO4 from 1/16 tsp to 1/8 tsp.  I’ll see if that helps.  I need to get a phosphate level test kit.

It’s been a few days since I re-scaped my 26 gallon aquarium. You can find more photos here, and my aquarium journal here.

I finally re-scaped my 26 gallon aquarium. I took out all my plants, and put in my driftwood that I boiled and soaked the other night, and replanted all my old and new plants. I started fearing that I was running out of space. Indeed, I started to run out of space for my smaller foreground plants. But that’s ok, I got them in. I’ll have to re-scape in the near future anyway, once I’m ready to take out all the substrate and replace it with soil and sand. By that time, I’ll have my 20 gallon aquarium set up and can use that to house my fish and snails while I redo the substrate.

Here’s a couple photos I took right after. There’s still a lot of crap in the water column. I’ll take more photos once it all settles and/or gets filtered out.

I recently purchased an EHEIM 2232 Ecco External Canister Filter for my 20 gallon el natural tank. I installed it on my 26 gallon high tech aquarium to seed it with beneficial bacteria.

I really like this filter. It was super easy to set up. The only thing I don’t like about it is that is has ugly green hoses, filter and intake. But that’s easily replaceable.

It’s increased the flow in my 26 gallon tank. I have a spare Fluval 205 that I’ll add to it once I have the 20 gallon tank set up and move the Eheim over. I’ve also been considering putting a power head in the tank instead if the second Fluval 205. If I do that, I can create great flow for the carpet plants I plan on putting in the 26 gallon tank.

I really can’t say if I like it any more or less than my Fluval 205 though. They both work very well, and I haven’t had problems with either. Anyway, the EHEIM 2232 is good for tank sizes up to 35 gallons, which is plenty of flow for my 20 gallon tank.

The flora and fauna that I’ll eventually put in it will love it.

So I’ve been planning my second aquarium setup. It’s going to be “El Natural” style, also called “Low Tech.” I’ll be using a base substrate of Miracle Gro Organic Choice soil and a cap of Tropic Isle Tahitian Moon Sand. For lighting, I’m planning on using my Single GLO Life-Glo T5 HO 24W 6700K that I have laying around. For flora, I’m thinking about getting some water wisteria, water sprite, rotala rotundifolia, sword plants, S. subulata, frog bit, and maybe some crypts.

For fauna, I plan on having a chinese algae eater, mystery snails, and red cherry shrimp.

So to begin with, I’m going to set the tank up emersed. Grow out the plants emersed, then after 3 or 4 weeks, fill the tank up. I’m thinking about changing the substrate out on my 26 gallon bow front tank, so if I decide to do that, I’m going to put the fish and snails from that tank into this tank temporarily while I change out the 26.

More to come. =)