Part 4: Care & Maintenance

  • 5 min

Good news: once your tank is running, maintenance is simple. The goal is to keep water clean and fish healthy — without making it tiring.

1) Weekly Routine (Beginner Easy Schedule)

✅ Every day (2–3 minutes)

    • Check fish: are they active and eating?
    • Quick look at water: clear? any smell?
    • Feed small amount (only what they finish in 1–2 minutes)

  • Simple rule: Less food is safer than more food.

✅ Once a week (15–25 minutes)

Do a water change

  • 20–30% is perfect for most beginner tanks

Also do:

  • Light wipe the glass if needed
  • Siphon some dirt from the tank floor (not everything
  •  

✅ Once a month (10 minutes)

Check filter flow

    • If water flow becomes weak, it’s time to clean the filter sponge/media (simple steps below).

2) Water Change (Step-by-step)

What you need

  • Siphon hose
  • Bucket
  • Anti-chlorine

Steps

  1. Switch off filter (and heater if you have one)
  2. Use siphon to remove 20–30% water
  3. Add anti-chlorine (for the new water)
  4. Add back tap water
  5. Switch filter back on

✅ Done.

Important:
Always treat the new water with anti-chlorine. Don’t skip this.

3) How Often Should You Change Water?

For most beginner tanks:

  • 20–30% once a week is the safe default

If your tank is crowded or you feed a lot:

  • 30–40% once a week (or split into 2 smaller changes)

If your tank is lightly stocked and stable:

  • 20% once a week still keeps it easy and safe

4) Filter Care (Very important!)

Your filter is home to the good bacteria. So we clean it gently.

When to clean the filter

  • Flow becomes weak
  • Filter looks clogged
  • Usually every 2–4 weeks (depends on tank)

How to clean it (the safe way)

✅ Use tank water (from your water change bucket)
✅ Gently squeeze/rinse the sponge/media
❌ Do NOT wash with tap water
❌ Do NOT scrub until “perfect clean”

Simple goal: Clean enough to restore flow, not “make it brand new.”

5) Light Timing (Avoid algae, keep tank pretty)

  • With plants: 6–8 hours/day
  • Mostly fish / few plants: 4–6 hours/day

Tip: A timer makes everything easier.

6) Algae Control (Beginner-friendly)

  1. Algae is normal. It becomes a problem only when it grows too much.

    Easy ways to control algae

    • Don’t overfeed
    • Don’t leave the light on too long
    • Do weekly water changes
    • Keep tank away from direct sunlight

7) “Something feels off” Quick Fix Guide

Water looks cloudy

    • Reduce feeding
    • Do a 20–30% water change
    • Make sure filter is running 24/7

Fish look stressed / hiding

    • Check if filter flow is too strong
    • Test water (ammonia/nitrite)

Bad smell

    • Do a water change
    • Siphon waste from the bottom
    • Check for leftover food

If you tell our That Aquarium staff what you’re unsure of, we’ll be sure to help wherever we can!

🐡 Puffed up with knowledge? Give us a like and keep floating along!

👉 Next Up: We’ll go over some common beginner mistakes we see often!

Author: Kelvin Phua

Illustrator(s): Rong Sheng

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