This episode of "The Aquarist's Edge" dives into the essential task of maintaining a clean and healthy aquarium. You will hear a series of practical cleaning hacks aimed at helping aquarists achieve a pristine tank environment while ensuring the well-being of aquatic life, including an intriguing use of vodka!
Tune in to discover these hacks and more, and transform aquarium cleaning into an enjoyable part of your aquarist journey. Don't miss out on expert-level insights and creative solutions to common aquarium challenges.
This episode is sponsored by Art's Fish Room
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome to this episode of the Aquarist's Edge, a podcast for home aquarists just like you.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:10 Learn more about how to keep a thriving aquarium and discover ideas and tips
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 to give your aquarium the edge.
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 And now, over to our host, Arthur Preston.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:23 Keeping your aquarium clean is one of the most important tasks that you have as an aquarist.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:27 Someone who wants to make sure that your tank looks good, but is also healthy
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 for all the animals that live within it.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 So in this episode of the aquarist edge i'm going
00:00:32 --> 00:00:36 to share with you some let's call them hacks that
00:00:36 --> 00:00:41 might help you in ensuring that your tank remains clean so let's get straight
00:00:41 --> 00:00:46 into it one of the first ones that i want to share with you is we well let's
00:00:46 --> 00:00:50 call it the spot cleaning hack now this is one of the most effective habits
00:00:50 --> 00:00:55 that you can develop and what this is quite simply is removing having visible debris,
00:00:56 --> 00:01:00 uneaten food, and other mess in your tank on a daily basis.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:05 And so here's the hack you can use to make this happen. Keep a pair of long
00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 aquarium tweezers near your tank, so that whenever you notice any debris,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 quickly grab it with the tweezers.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 It only takes seconds, but it can significantly improve your water quality over time.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 I'm not an aquascaper, not by any stretch of the imagination,
00:01:19 --> 00:01:23 but I bought a pair of tweezers right in the early days of setting up my fish room.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 And I've got to tell you, it's one of the most useful purchases I've ever made.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 I use it almost daily to remove debris from my tank.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:35 Number two, we know that overfeeding can be a problem. It's one of the easiest
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 things to do as an aquarium keeper.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:42 We want to feed these hungry fish that keep looking at us, almost begging for
00:01:42 --> 00:01:43 food when we walk past the tank.
00:01:44 --> 00:01:48 So one of the easiest ways to stop us from doing that is to use a feed ring.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 And this floats on top of the water. you put
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 your fish food so it's only in the area of
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 the food ring and that prevents it from spreading
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 throughout the tank because we know that if we overfeed and
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 the food falls to the bottom of the aquarium and it's
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 not eaten in time it can lead to build up
00:02:06 --> 00:02:11 of ammonia and it's detrimental to the overall overall well-being of your tank
00:02:11 --> 00:02:16 here's a quick bonus tip if you're using flake food try soaking it in a small
00:02:16 --> 00:02:20 cup of tank water before you add it to the food ring and this prevents the flakes
00:02:20 --> 00:02:24 from floating too long on the surface and eventually sinking and eaten.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 The next tip is to use a magnetic cleaner.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 This keeps your aquarium glass or the acrylic of your aquarium clean.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:36 And they're an absolute game changer. So instead of waiting for algae to build
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 up, use the magnetic cleaner for a quick swipe every day or two.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:43 This prevents the algae from getting a strong foothold and makes your weekly
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 cleaning that much easier. Fourthly.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:51 The gravel vacuum. When it comes to water changes and gravel cleaning,
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 here's a time-saving hack.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:58 Instead of removing the decorations, use a flexible gravel vacuum attachment.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:02 And most of the plastic ones you'll find in your local fish store can do this.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:08 They allow you to reach around ornaments and into the corners without disturbing your tank too much.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 A fourth hack is what I want to call the bucket fill hack.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 So refilling your tank after water change can be tricky. Not all of us have
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 a fancy water change system that happens automatically or that is installed
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 either in an individual tank or indeed in a fish room.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:29 But you want to make sure that you can fill up your tank quickly without disturbing the substrate.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:35 So the easiest way to do this is to place a clean plastic bag or a small plate
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 on the surface of your aquarium water.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:42 When you pour new water into the aquarium, do it over the bag or plate.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 This disperses the water flow and it
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 prevents it from digging into your gravel or sand as
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 it enters the tank another hack
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 for you is what i would call the plant trimming hack
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 if you have live plants regular trimming
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 is important so use a dedicated aquarium
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 scissors for clean cuts and trim plants
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 just after your filter cleaning that way any
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 small pieces that float away will likely be
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 caught by the clean filter and this prevents them from decomposing
00:04:12 --> 00:04:16 in the tank itself just to
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 say you don't need unless you are a an aquascaper
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 and trying to trim your plants in every particular way you don't
00:04:23 --> 00:04:30 need fancy expensive aquarium scissors buy a pair of small regular scissors
00:04:30 --> 00:04:34 maybe craft scissors that you keep specifically for your aquarium don't use
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 it for anything else just keep it for your aquarium and you'll find that to
00:04:37 --> 00:04:41 be a very useful tool in your aquarium keeping as well.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 One of the things that you'll often hear people talk about in the aquarium world
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 is making sure that your tank is cycled.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:54 Often conversations are around filter cleaning and so forth with this as well.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:58 So instead of replacing all your filter media at once, which can disrupt the
00:04:58 --> 00:05:02 beneficial bacteria that have built up over time, set up a rotation schedule,
00:05:02 --> 00:05:09 replace or clean only one type of filter media at a time, allowing a few weeks between each change.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:13 And this will maintain biological filtration while still keeping your filter clean.
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 One of the things that I've come to do is I have many sponge filters that have
00:05:17 --> 00:05:22 two sponges on them and I will replace one filter sponge or clean one filter
00:05:22 --> 00:05:26 sponge at a time, leaving the other one to continue with a very healthy colony
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 of beneficial bacteria.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 The other hack, of course, is to keep a spare filter in your tank at all times.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:37 Have a small sponge filter that just sits in your tank and when you set up a
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 new tank, You just pick up that filter and you stick it into your new aquarium
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 and that will boost the beneficial bacteria in the new aquarium.
00:05:46 --> 00:05:50 And you know folks, these daily and weekly hacks, they might seem small,
00:05:50 --> 00:05:55 but they do add up to a big difference in your aquarium's cleanliness and your fish's health.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:59 But remember, consistency is the key. A little bit of maintenance every day
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 can save you from major headaches down the road.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:07 Well, now that I've shared those small hacks, what about some bigger things that we can do?
00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 To tackle the challenges that we almost all face as aquarium owners.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 So here's some of the tasks that you might want to do monthly,
00:06:16 --> 00:06:20 or once every three to four months, depending on your specific setup.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 Have you ever thought of using your bathroom for cleaning aquariums?
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 Oh, there's an interesting thought.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:32 What about using your bath, your bathtub? Take the items from your aquarium
00:06:32 --> 00:06:37 and place them in the bath. Fill it with water and use a soft sponge or brush
00:06:37 --> 00:06:38 to clean each item thoroughly.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:43 Why would you do this? Well, then you're not confined to small buckets.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 You've got more space. You've got a place to work. You've got a place to put
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 out all the aquarium decorations and things that you want to clean.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 You could also use vinegar. We'll call this the vinegar soak hack.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:58 For stubborn algae or calcium deposits on decorations or equipment,
00:06:58 --> 00:07:02 create a solution of one part white vinegar to one part water.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 Soak all those items that you need to clean in the
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 solution for a few hours or overnight and the acidity
00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 of the vinegar will help dissolve deposits without introducing harmful
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 chemicals into your aquarium just make sure you
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 rinse thoroughly before returning those items to
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 the tank another good tool to
00:07:20 --> 00:07:25 have in your aquarium box is a toothbrush obviously not the same one you use
00:07:25 --> 00:07:31 every day this is great for cleaning hard to reach areas in your aquarium it's
00:07:31 --> 00:07:35 great for gently scrubbing algae from plant leaves for getting into crevices
00:07:35 --> 00:07:39 of decorations or cleaning around equipment like heaters and filter intakes.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:45 One pro tip I would give you is to keep a dedicated set of aquarium toothbrushes
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 for different purposes to avoid cross-contamination.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:53 Keep one toothbrush per tank. That way you're not going to be sharing any contaminants
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 or any illnesses between your tanks.
00:07:56 --> 00:08:03 Speaking of spreading problems between tanks, here's another hack that I think is really common sense.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:07 And that is that you need to set up a small quarantine or hospital tank.
00:08:07 --> 00:08:13 Use this tank to clean and observe new plants or decorations before adding them to your main tank.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:18 Also, make sure that this tank is available for new fish you want to introduce.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 We've all taken chances before with fish that we've bought from a local fish
00:08:23 --> 00:08:27 shop, we've bought from a local breeder, we get home, we throw them in our tank,
00:08:27 --> 00:08:32 and we hope, and we hope that there's nothing that they're carrying,
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 no parasites or illnesses or infections.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 If you want to be absolutely sure of this make sure
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 you quarantine your tank you don't want to risk wiping out
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 a beautifully set up a community aquarium because you've
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 gone and bought a couple of guppies from the
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 local fish shop throw them in and it causes an outbreak
00:08:50 --> 00:08:55 of a parasite or some kind of bacterial infection across your entire tank so
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 these are these are hacks that can help you to make your maintenance more manageable
00:08:59 --> 00:09:04 remember that the key is to be thorough but gentle your goal is to clean the
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 aquarium without disrupting the delicate balance of your ecosystem.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:14 So let's take it up another notch what about what some might call an expert level cleaning hack,
00:09:15 --> 00:09:19 so if you're ready for this let's have a look at these in all honesty some of
00:09:19 --> 00:09:23 these i don't do because i don't have the equipment but i'm aware of them and
00:09:23 --> 00:09:24 i felt i needed to share them with you,
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 we'll start with one that i certainly don't have in my fish
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 room and that is an automatic water changer and i want to add the
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 word yet because this is something that is a
00:09:33 --> 00:09:37 real game changer it's the hack for ultimate inconvenience it
00:09:37 --> 00:09:41 involves installing a device that slowly drips new water into your aquarium
00:09:41 --> 00:09:46 while simultaneously removing the old water it maintains consistent water parameters
00:09:46 --> 00:09:50 and reduces the need for large disruptive water change while the initial setup
00:09:50 --> 00:09:54 can be complex it really is a game changer for long-term maintenance.
00:09:56 --> 00:10:01 You can also set up a UV sterilizer. This is a hack that will significantly
00:10:01 --> 00:10:05 reduce the presence of harmful bacteria, parasites, and indeed floating algae.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:07 The hack here is in the timing.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:12 Run your UV sterilizer for a few hours before each water change or tank maintenance session.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:17 This helps clear up any microorganisms that might have been stirred up during the cleaning.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 And here's a fun one, one I certainly have never heard of before.
00:10:21 --> 00:10:25 I found it recently while I was researching for this particular episode.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 And this is called the vodka dosing hack.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 Now I've never tried this so I cannot recommend this in good conscience because
00:10:32 --> 00:10:38 I don't know if it works or not but I saw this recommended and I felt I wanted to share it with you.
00:10:39 --> 00:10:44 What this technique involves is adding small amounts of vodka or another carbon
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 source to your aquarium to feed beneficial bacteria.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:54 So use a dosing pump to add precise amounts start with very small doses and increase gradually.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 While closely monitoring your nitrate and phosphate levels.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:02 So that's vodka dosing. Certainly a first for me.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 I have to be honest, I'm not sure I'm going to try it, but if any of you do,
00:11:06 --> 00:11:07 then please leave a comment.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:13 So all of these hacks that I've shared today can dramatically improve your aquarium's
00:11:13 --> 00:11:18 water quality and reduce maintenance time, but they do require careful implementation.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:23 Always research thoroughly and consider your specific aquarium setup before
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 trying advanced techniques.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 And remember, the goal of all these cleaning hacks is not just to have a visually
00:11:30 --> 00:11:34 clean tank, but to create a healthy, stable environment for your aquatic life.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:40 A clean aquarium is a happy aquarium, and happy fish make for a very rewarding hobby.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 So, as I close...
00:11:44 --> 00:11:49 Some key takeaways. Be consistent. Small regular maintenance tasks can prevent
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 major issues down the line.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:56 Two, always consider the impact of your cleaning on your aquarium's ecosystem.
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 Gentle, gradual changes are usually best.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:04 Number three, invest in the right tools and equipment. They can make cleaning
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 easier and a lot more effective.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 Four, don't be afraid to experiment with new techniques.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:15 But as mentioned earlier, always research thoroughly and introduce changes slowly.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:22 And lastly, observe your aquarium closely. Often, your fish and your plants
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 will show signs if something isn't right.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:29 It's important to remember that every aquarium is unique. What works for one
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 setup might not be ideal for another.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 What works for one setup might not be ideal for another.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:41 Pay attention to how your fish and other aquatic life respond to different cleaning
00:12:41 --> 00:12:42 methods and adjust accordingly.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:47 Cleaning your aquarium doesn't have to be a chore. With all of these hacks and
00:12:47 --> 00:12:51 others that you can think of yourself that you might have researched or discovered,
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 you can turn it into an enjoyable part of your aquarium hobby.
00:12:55 --> 00:12:59 A clean, healthy aquarium is not just visually stunning, it's a thriving ecosystem
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 that can bring years of joy and fascination.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:06 I really hope that this episode has given you ideas to maintain a beautiful,
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 healthy aquarium with this effort.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:14 That's it for this episode of the Aquaris Sedge. Please consider subscribing
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00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 We would love it if you would also rate and review the podcast,
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 as this helps make it visible to others.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:27 Until next time, keep learning and discovering, and keep finding your Aquaris
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 Sedge in this captivating and fascinating hobby.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:39 Music.