One of the main reasons people get rid of or never purchase a fish tank is because of the odor. Thank God my 58 gallon tank (220litre) has never once emitted an odor. I keep my tank clean and avoid anything that could potentially make my water smell poorly. No matter what the pet store salesman may tell you, don’t overpopulate your fish tank. The general rule is one inch of fish per gallon of water, but remember to keep in mind the size the fish will be when it’s full grown. If your fish tank is only 20 gallons, that means you can keep 5 fishes that is 4 gallons per fish. Though you can keep some more if they are very tiny such as small tetra species. Just remember that although fish like Oscars are purchased when they are about 2 inches long, they can get up to 6inches or more after living for just one year. I have Angle and Discus fishes which grow up-to 7-8 inches, so I keep around 10 fishes in my tank. Overpopulating your fish tank leads to more fish pooping, which leads to more waste on the bottom of the tank.

Don’t rely on Plecos cause Plecos don’t eat fish waste – that’s what a gravel vacuum is for. If you overpopulate your tank, it is bound to smell. One of the most important aspects of aquarium care is cleaning the aquarium. fish tank belfast gumtreeFor the best success, I recommend doing a 10-20% water change every week, using a gravel vacuum very well once a month (draining about 30-40% of the water), and cleaning algae daily. aquarium air pump smallIf you never clean or maintain your aquarium, this is the reason it smells. fish tank divider homemadeEven with fish that help clean things up, you still need to take responsibility and clean your tank. fish tank cairns basketball

Clean your tank glass with soft clean cotton cloth which will reduce Algea growth and use a good quality shiffon vaccum and clean the gravel in 15 days. Most carbon or sponge filters that you purchase at pet stores only come with one filter. fish tank vacuum hoseFilters should be cleaned every once in a while and replaced after a few months. used fish tanks for sale in albuquerqueCanister filters should be taken apart and cleaned every six months. buddhist quotes on death and griefIf your fish tank has no filtration at all, then there should be no question of what is making your water cloudy and smelly. best quality small fish tank

When I purchased my first aquarium, I bought a 20 gallon tank, a sponge filter and a air motor with air stone, this is a good starter tank. Though it is no longer with me, initially some of my fishes got killed, due to lack of knowledge. coffee shop fish tank floorNow I am using a AQUA ONE 1000 canister filter and a small sponge filter for my tank. Clean the canister in 3 months approx and the sponge one in every 10 days. If you look at your water and notice that it has a green hue to it, this means that you have algae growing. Algae can be reversed by buying chemicals from your local pet store and buying algae-eating fish. Algae is caused by improper filtration and excess sunlight. If your tank is near a window and gets more than six hours of direct sunlight a day, then you are going to get algae. Brown algae is a common occurrence in a newly set up aquarium and I hate this personally.

It is generally caused by too little light, an excess of silicates, an abundance of nutrients, and too little oxygen. Silicates can build up through tap water that is high in chlorine, and silicates that leech from some types of substrates. Cure: Wipe off surfaces & vacuum gravel well. Use silicate adsorbing resin in the filter. Stock a small size Plecos or several Otocinclus. Prevention: Use anti-chlorinated water. This type of algae does not adhere strongly to the tank surfaces, and is easily wiped away. Vacuuming the gravel with a siphon will quickly remove coatings from the substrate. Increasing the lighting will inhibit re-growth of brown algae. As a new tank matures brown algae is often eliminated naturally by plants and green algae competing for nutrients. Some sucker-mouth catfish will readily eat brown algae, most notably Otocinclus. If the problem is due to high silicates in the water, and the brown algae persists, a special silicate absorbing resin can be used in the filter.

If you have made it this far on the list and none of the above reasons apply to your tank, then you could have dead organisms in your tank. Dead fish (easily spotted), snails (not so much), and other critters give off a potent odor and make the water cloudy. I would suggest doing a good sweep with the gravel vacuum just to make sure you don’t have anything dead under the substrate. If you are having a snail infestation, I would suggest trying to get rid of them. If you still haven’t found why your fish tank stinks, I would suggest asking aquarium forums or testing your water with a water testing kit. There are numerous other reasons that your aquarium could smell bad, so don’t think that this is it. And remember, if all else fails, buy a new filter, drain out 100% of your water, and start fresh. So... what do you think? Please leave me a comment.If you're anything like me, when you started out your new hobby life as an aquarist, you bought a secondSecond hand fish tanks, assuming they don't leak, and

sometimes, even if they do, are an excellent choice for the newbie fish keeper because the fact that they are less expensive than a new tank allows you to buy a bigger one, and the most common cause of killing fish is having too small a tank and putting too many fish inSome professionals believe that one goldfish needs 20 gallons to itself, which means even putting one fish in the so called 'beginner's' tanks they sell at pet stores is sentencing your fish to a short life of misery. But let's say you've gotten your second hand tank, its nice and big, you're happy at the excellent deal you got for it, but now you want to wash it. You've looked around online and all you can seem to find are hysterical warnings to NEVER put soap or detergent in the tank (nigh impossible to get out of the seals and can kill fish over a period of months,) and to NEVER put other cleaners in there either. With all the warnings out there, one

could quite easily be reduced to a quivering mass of confusion, but never fear, you have come to the right place. You can safely and effectively clean a fish tank using the following natural (and fortunately, quite cheap) substances. SECOND HAND FISH TANK CLEANING SUPPLIES You're going to need to have a set of cleaning equipment that is only every used for the fish, as even a tiny drop of detergent in an old sponge can get into the water and start whacking your fish like a silent assassin. It is best to use scrubbing pads sold by pet stores because you know for sure that they have not been laced with cleaning products. Vinegar is excellent for removing hard water stains, and salt will clean out a tank nicely. salt, don't be shy, and scrub it around there vigorously. thoroughly and there you have it, a clean tank. Vinegar will also neutralize a lot of unpleasant fishy odors that second hand tanks can develop if they

have been siting mostly empty with a bit of old water and gravel in the bottom of the tank. Now, keep in mind, this is how you clean an empty second hand tank that you haven't put any fish in yet, don't go dumping salt and vinegar into a second hand tank that actually still has the fish in it, or you will soon find them doing the tragic upside down limbo of death. Once you have cleaned out the tank, fill it up and check for leaks. If there are any, you can use aquarium sealant to fix them up. Follow the directions on the sealant precisely, and don't rush things. It is common for new fish keepers to want to rush into getting fish in the tank, but this is how fishThe process from getting a new tank to actually getting a healthy fish that isn't going to die can sometimes be up to a month, but it is worth the wait. There is nothing more disheartening to going to all the expense and trouble of setting up an aquarium only