How to change water in Your Saltwater Aquarium
For your saltwater tank to stay healthy, you need to change the water often and properly. Even if you clean the water often, nutrients and toxins that are bad for sea life will still build up. Even well-kept tanks can get dirty over time. To keep the toxin levels low, the water needs to be changed at least 10% of the time. These tips will help you change the water in your saltwater tank if you’re new to the hobby and need help doing it right.
Regularly change the water.
At least 10 to 20 percent of the water should be changed every one to two weeks to keep the marine life in your tank healthy. This helps keep the water’s vitamin levels healthy and gets rid of your fish’s waste. If you don’t change the water, it can hurt or kill your fish and other organisms in the ocean. So, change the water in your aquarium often as part of its care.
Add more water ahead of time:
Adding more water to an aquatic setting can be very scary for the animals that live there. So, it’s important to mix the new saltwater with the tank water while keeping the chemical levels in mind. These steps will help your aquatic life get used to the new water without any problems. You can test the new water, compare it to the water in the tank, and add more ingredients until it has the right concentration before mixing it.
Never use tap water:
Remember this important rule when you change the water in your saltwater aquarium: Never use tap water. When you mix your new saltwater, you shouldn’t use tap water. Even though tap water is usually fine for everyday use, it has chemicals in it that are bad for fish and reefs. The chlorine that is used to clean tap water is bad for fish and can be hard to get rid of fully. Because of this, you should start mixing your new water with deionized freshwater that you can buy in a bottle at your local aquarium shop.
Temperature and salinity:
It’s important to check the temperature and salinity of the water in your tank often after adding new water. This will make the change easy for your fish. Some aquatic species can’t handle quick changes in temperature, so it’s best to make sure the new water is as much like the old water as possible.
