Many lovers of aquarium fish are wondering why they should clean the bottom of the aquarium at all, because in natural reservoirs no one specially cleans the bottom, the plants grow well and the fish swim merrily. The fact is that aquariums have a small volume compared to natural reservoirs, fish secrete feces, and the remnants of food they have not eaten fall to the bottom and begin to rot, spoiling the water and giving green light for the development of pathogenic microbes that can have a detrimental effect on both the fish themselves and aquarium plants.
Instructions
Step 1
There are special filters to clean the bottom, however, they do not do their job well. By far the best and most effective way to clean the bottom of an aquarium is through a siphon. You can see one of these devices in the picture on the left. The siphon consists of a flexible ribbed hose, on one side of which there is a pear, and on the other side a plastic expander with a bottom mesh at the end, so that during the cleaning of the bottom of the aquarium, any "gape" fish does not accidentally suck into the siphon! Before cleaning the bottom, carefully remove large stones from the aquarium, as well as plants without roots, which these stones pressed to the bottom and did not allow them to float, then clean the walls of the aquarium with a special scraper. When the dirt scraped off the walls sinks to the bottom, lower the siphon into the aquarium, remembering to put an empty bucket below the water level. After pressing the pear several times, suck water into the siphon. In this case, a constant stream of water is formed and now all that remains is to drive the hose along the bottom of the aquarium and between the stones, draining all the dirt through the hose into the bucket. During this procedure, to better clean the bottom, slightly wiggle the soil stones with the end of the hose. In case of heavy dirt, it is sometimes necessary to remove the siphon from the aquarium in order to clean the expander sieve that is clogged with dirt.
Step 2
If there is no special siphon at hand for cleaning the aquarium bottom, it can easily be replaced with a regular rubber hose. In this case, the suction of water is done either with the help of an ordinary rubber bulb, or, in the absence of such, the suction is done with the mouth, in much the same way as motorists drain gasoline. However, in this case, you need to suck very quickly so as not to accidentally swallow the aquarium water. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that the fish, especially the smallest ones, are not sucked into the bucket through the hose. This can not only scare the fish, but also injure them, especially those who take pride in their large and beautiful fins and tails! Especially often it sucks in slower fish, for example, guppies.
Step 3
And of course, every day after feeding the fish, remove the leftovers from them. This is usually done by the simplest device, which is a glass tube with a rubber bulb at the end, reaching the length of the bottom of the aquarium. If you use dry food for feeding your fish, then remove the remains from the aquarium as soon as the fish are full and leave the feeder. The food sinks to the bottom, as a rule, in the same place - under the aquarium feeder. Take out the feeder so that it does not interfere with you, lower the glass tube to the bottom, sucking in the remaining feed with the pear. If you do not do this on time, then within an hour the aquarium water can become cloudy, since dry food is an excellent food for millions of bacteria that begin to multiply in geometric progression.
Step 4
Clean the bottom of the aquarium thoroughly at least once a month, while draining no more than 30% of the water. The drained water is replaced by fresh, settled water and always the same temperature as the main water in the aquarium. And remember that keeping your aquarium clean is the key to the health of your pets!
