Weekly, monthly and ongoing care
Before you begin, make sure you have all the kit you’ll need for each task – a bucket, a net, a magnetic glass cleaner, a gravel cleaner, fish food, tap water conditioner, an aquarium test kit, thermometer and replacement filter service packs.
Follow our top tips for keeping your fish tank clean and in top condition:
Clean the inside of the aquarium glass with a magnetic aquarium glass cleaner. If the outside of the glass needs cleaning, wipe down with distilled water and a soft cloth. Never use abrasive cloths or chemical cleaning products. For the inside of an acrylic aquarium, such as the Edge Glow or Nano aquariums, we recommend sourcing an ‘acrylic safe’ surface cleaner rather than a traditional magnetic cleaner as these may permanently cause scratches to the material.
Top up the water if there has been any evaporation – remember to treat new water with Tapsafe before adding it to the aquarium.
Feed your live plants with a specialist aquarium plant food
If needed, clean the LED light with distilled water and dry with a soft cloth. Turn them off for a few minutes before cleaning.
Test your aquarium water levels for invisible ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH; you can buy specific test kits that make this job very simple – for more information read ‘Testing your aquarium water‘.
Complete a 25% aquarium volume water change – (see ‘Doing a water change’, and video) and clean the gravel with an aquarium gravel cleaner.
Replace your filter cartridge (where applicable) or clean the filter foams in a bucket of aquarium water and add a dose of Fast Filter Start to boost those all-important filter bacteria.
If you have live plants, spruce them up by trimming back excess growth and removing dead leaves.
Turn off the power to your filter and remove it from the aquarium.
Unclip the intake cage and rinse in fresh water, removing dead leaves or large pieces of dirt trapped in the intake grills. Next, remove the impellor cover and impellor.
Use a small brush to clean them and the inside of the motor where the impellor sits. Put the impellor and cover back together and install the filter back to the aquarium.
Switch it back on when correctly positioned. You might experience some harmless bubbles leaving the filter for the first minute or two.
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Keep your pump running effectively by replacing your pump impellor once a year.
Search our Filter Spares section for the correct Interpet replacement impellor for your filter.
