Aquarium Maintenance

Euro Spirit is an Aquarium Management team of aquarists, who provide the most complete and professional level of animal husbandry and aquarium maintenance available anywhere in South Africa.

While our competitors may treat aquarium fishes like flowers, beautiful while they last –Euro Spirit Aquarium Management believes that proper care and maintenance will allow these delicate marine animals to thrive in your aquarium for years. Our personal show tank is a testament to this with fish and corals years old. Euro Spirit Aquarium Management will ensure that your tank remains in top condition.

• Flexible service contracts — daily, weekly or monthly
• Livestock and hardware support
• Complete redesign and aqua-scaping of existing tanks
• On and off-site real-time computer monitoring
• Clients can request current and past water parameter’s and tank analysis
• 24-hour emergency call out
• Free system assessments
• Tank removals
• Guarantee on all livestock (subject to conditions)
• Stocking tanks with correct livestock for appropriate tank theme

For those of you who are enthusiastic owners: When it comes to aquarium maintenance, there is nothing more important than a healthy aquatic environment. With proper maintenance, you may be able to avoid time-consuming and expensive problems by simply spending around 30 minutes to an hour every other week, tending to your aquarium and keeping it healthy.

The most important thing to remember is that so long as your fish are healthy there will not a be a need for any major changes in your tank. pH levels often vary in a tank, and this is one of the most important things to be monitored, as it is most likely to vary.

Water Changes in order to maintain supreme water quality, you will need to be performing water changes every two weeks. What this entails is a 10-15% change of the water in your tank. What you should do is use a syphon vacuum in order to remove old food, debris and water from the bottom of the tank, which will clean the substrate. Once completed, replace the water with treated water, appropriate for your

Aquarium treated water refers to the parameters of both the tank and the replacement water. You see most tap water contains chemicals such as chlorine and chloramine. In order to disperse of these chemicals, you will need to allow the water you want to fill the tank settle in an openly aired bucket for 24 hours which will allow the harmful tap water chemicals to evaporate. There are, however, other chemicals within tap water which do not evaporate in an open-air container, and thus you will need to use a water conditioner, which will neutralise the harmful chemicals present.

While filtered water is appropriate in some cases, is it still highly recommended that you perform the necessary chemical tests on this water before adding it your fish tank.

Testing Aquarium Water

Water testing is essential and we cannot stress this fact enough. Imbalanced water is the equivalent of you breathing in contaminated air which makes you sick. The same thing applies to fish. Please contact us, in the event that you require assistance in the testing of your water. While we do sell home testing kits, we have more equipment available at our disposal in store, to provide you with a comprehensive water analysis. You, of course, have to bring in a sample of your water.

Aquarium Filtration

Make sure you are cleaning your filter out once every month.

Recommended Aquarium Maintenance Routine

Daily

Be vigilant of your fish as they are prime to behavioral changes should there be a problem in the tank. With this in mind, be sure to keep an eye on your equipment as they are

Weekly

Beware of deceased fish. Fish often decompose quickly and create a chemical imbalance in the water which is why you will need to count your fish as often as possible to ensure that they are alive and well, but if they aren’t you’re going to need to water test and adjust to remedy the problem.

Every Other Week

• Test your water for the vital parameters: pH, carbonate hardness, nitrite and nitrate.
• Change 10-15% of the water.
• Vacuum the gravel.
• Clean the Aquarium walls. Filter floss is fairly cheap and very efficient. Start from the bottom upward and rinse out often.
• Rinse filter inserts (cartridges) with the extracted water.

Monthly

• Replace filter inserts, cartridges, floss, carbon, and Alone.
• Inspect tubing, connections, airstones, skimmers and other parts for proper operation.
• Clean Aquarium top to assure your lighting is not affected.
• Check the expiration dates printed on the boxes and bottles of the aquarium supplies you use. Do not use after the imprinted date. Expired test kits will give false readings and may prompt you to take unnecessary action.