How to Keep Aquarium Crystal Clear?

Here are 16 easy methods to make your aquarium crystal clear. Many people place an aquarium in their rooms, living rooms, and guest rooms for decoration purposes. 

How to Keep Aquarium Crystal Clear? You can keep the aquarium crystal clear by applying activated charcoal in the filter and using a net to entrap contaminants and uneaten food particles. You should also use water clarifiers other bacterial species that can reduce the accumulation of ammonia. In addition, it is also beneficial to use flocculants, water conditioners, scrubs to scrub algal blooms and prevent direct sunlight.

The brown color due to tannic acid of wood and the green color due to algal blooms makes the internal environment dirty, and your fish tank doesn’t look crystal clear. The filtration process, decoration, and fish species play an essential role in their cleanliness.

Add Filtration system

The filtration system gets dirt and dust quickly, which can block its filter and sponge. Blockage of filter and sponge can cause accumulation of dirt there, which makes the aquarium look bad.

Filtration of existing water by using a fine sponge can easily trap dust particles, making the water tank clean.

For this purpose, you can also use smaller filter wool or filter floss to entrap small particles from running water.

You can also always turn on the filtration system all day, so beneficial can’t die in the inner side due to less oxygen.

For more cleaning purposes, you can also replace the filters after 1 to 2 months.

Use of bacterial species

The aquarium gets cloudy and filthy because fish present release waste products because fish pee and poop sinks at the bottom surface.

This waste also contains ammonia, a toxic element for the health of fish and their baby snails. In this condition, you can use certain beneficial bacteria to reduce ammonia accumulation.

These beneficial bacteria convert the most toxic ammonia into nitrite, which is less toxic. In addition, this nitrite will be further converted into nitrate, which is also not that much harmful.

These beneficial bacteria’s in this way, reduce the waste and debris. You can also check the ammonia level after some days to fix this issue.

Use of a lesser number of fish

Some people place too many species in a single tank which makes the atmosphere messy and cause cloudiness.

Some species like goldfish and cichlids produce more mess because they eat more foods and produce more waste.

The increase in waste directly increases ammonia in the interior, which is deadly toxic for these species.

Remove uneaten food from the aquarium

People also place foods in the aquarium for feeding fish and baby snails. These uneaten food particles that remain in the water for a long time make the inside dirty and produce a smell.

Foods that are protein-based, such as cichlid pellets, frozen cockle, catfish tablets, and mussels, degrade the water quality and clarity in the tank.

You can use a net with small holes to filter these particles and clean and clear the internal environment.

You can also place a net in front of filters for fine sieving of waste material.

Change water regularly

Changing the water of the aquarium is also necessary to maintain the internal conditions. 

The dirty water with an accumulation of waste products increases the growth of algae blooms and harmful bacteria.

The water with waste products of uneaten food particles makes the tank cloudy and unclean. You can make it crystal clean by cleaning the water.

You can make it clean by using filters that have tiny pores and nets. You should also have to change the water after every 3 to 4 weeks.

Use of flocculants 

People commonly use flocculants to make the aquarium clear. It is an easy process and also takes less time.

Flocculants work on the principle of sedimentation for the collection of smaller particles. You should add them to a tank, and these will combine smaller particles.

These smaller particles combine to form a larger molecule, and these are easy to remove. 

You should also don’t need small nets and sieves for the filtration process. You should also remove the larger particles frequently so these can’t create a mess in the internal environment.

Reduce the amount of light

More light in the tank will make the water green, giving them a bad look. The greenish color in water is due to the growth of algae cells.

These species needs water, nutrient, and light for their proper growth. When there is a lighter inside, these algae species will grow at a faster rate.

You should also place them away from direct tube lights and sunlight. Excessive light also depletes oxygen and increases the amount of phosphorus and nutrients, which indirectly makes the internal environment unclean.

Remove gravel residues from the aquarium

Many people are changing the water of their aquarium after 1 to 2 weeks. This change of water clarifies the waste products and uneaten food.

The technique of gravel vacuum is necessary to remove the waste from all the sides and depths. If you are not doing gravel vacuum and only changing the water, it will not show an apparent long-lasting effect.

When you add gravel substrate, it will become necessary to remove all the remaining from depth y using this technique.

Reverse osmosis

Your aquarium does not get dirty in one or two days. However, it will take weeks to accumulate dust, dirt, waste products, and nutrients.

Many people are placing simple ones in their home that has only one tap to change the water at a time.

You can also try to prepackage one for reverse osmosis and try this technique on simple ones. This technique is beneficial because the waste and excessive nutrients will clear from the opposite side.

In this process, most waste and contaminants will move outside from your tap for water supply.

Add water conditioners in the fish tank

Water conditioner usage is one of the best ways to make your aquarium shine as crystal. Many people are filling tap water in their fish tanks, and mostly it is soft water.

This tap water contains heavy metals like phosphates, silicates, and nitrates. These heavy metals accumulation for a long time increase the cloudiness in the internal environment.

You should also use conditioners to eliminate these heavy metals, chlorine, ammonia, and waste products when using tap water.

It will also reduce the amount of nitrogen coming from the waste of fish in excessive amounts.

Scrub algae by using scrappers

Algal blooms grow everywhere in the aquarium-like rocks, glass, and ornaments. You should need to remove them after changing water or cleaning purposes.

These algal blooms are not easy to remove by changing the water, so you have to scrap them from their surface.

Algal scrappers are available in the market and different stores; you should use them. Scrap the glass and ornaments surface gently by using this.

Moreover, you should also not use sandpaper or cotton wool for this purpose.

Add activated carbon in filters

Using activated carbon, also known as chemical filtration, will absorb water and contaminants.

Activated carbon is burned at high temperatures to increase its absorbing capacity. It will also suck impurities and odor from the inner side.

You can also pack them and then use them for filtration purposes. However, you should also have to remove it after 1 to 2 months because their effectiveness is less after this time.

Test aquarium water

Water testing is also necessary before exchanging them to know how impure it is. For example, if you are adding driftwood in your fish tank, you should check the PH, and it has low PH due to tannic acids.

When the PH level is low, you should change water using reverse osmosis or any other procedure.

You should also check the level of ammonia and nitrites because these are toxic for fish life. 

Don’t put a variety of fish in the same tank

You should not put a variety of fish in the same tank to make the aquarium clear. For some species, you have to put some foods for them.

If you add their variety, you have to consider different foods for their average growth and development.

The different species with different food groups will create more mess on the inner side and subsequently change the color of the water.

The mixture of uneaten foods also produces a foul smell inside the tank.

Water clarifier

Water clarifier is readily available in the market at affordable prices, and their use is easy. You can place them in the aquarium to make the internal water crystal clear.

The different brands of these clarifiers are available at superstores, and you can purchase them. The benefit of using these clarifiers is that they can easily remove dusty and cloudy formations.

It will also clean by removing overfeeding residues and gravel dust. Its use is always safe for all fish species because these contain less phosphate, which is why most people are using them.

Clear outside of the glass aquarium

The cleaning from the outside is also necessary to make the fish tank crystal clear. You should clean the outside glass by using soapy water.

Mix the hand wash in water and take a clean cloth to remove any oily prints and marks from the glass. After cleaning it with these mixtures, wipe off the excess water using newspaper and dry them.

You can also clean the exterior by using vinegar solution and alcohol. These will make the fish tank glass clear and clean.

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