Had a busy summer? We know we have. It’s that time of year when we all head inside for the colder months and find many things around that house that need a little extra love. If that happens to be your tank, don’t worry; we’ve got some great tips to help you get it back to an excellent standard for all your marine life living inside.
Testing
It is very important to test your tank’s water parameters consistently. Doing this is crucial for the health of your fish. Dirty or malfunctioning equipment can lead to temperature fluctuations that stress your aquatic inhabitants. Regularly check these using standard test kits and consider incorporating the advanced ICP test for a more in-depth analysis. Especially after the summer season, when testing might get relaxed, it's important to get back on track with testing your water parameters.
Cleaning Equipment
Cleaning your aquarium equipment is essential for several reasons, as it plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy and stable aquatic environment for your fish and corals. Cleaning equipment such as powerheads, skimmers, and pumps can often get dirty from coralline algae or build-up. This buildup can obstruct the proper functioning of the equipment and reduce its efficiency, therefore, ensure you’re checking the cleanliness of all equipment inside your tank.
Check your Sump
Have you checked your sump in a while? If not, there may likely be some build-up inside! Generally, it's a good practice to inspect and clean your sump and associated equipment on a regular basis, but particularly after Summer when you may have forgotten to check as frequently as normal! Make sure you’ve given your sump a clean to keep your water filtration efficient.
Coral Warfare
If you had real growth over the summer, check your tank for coral warfare and frag corals. As you may know, coral warfare can occur for many reasons, such as resource competition, overgrowth, stinging tentacles and chemical warfare. Managing these interactions to ensure the overall health and well-being of your coral community is something to be maintained, so have a look!
Also, if you’ve got a lot of new frags, you could potentially sell them and make money for Christmas presents!
Therefore, getting your maintenance routine back on track after summer is something you should prioritise. Tank enthusiasts like ourselves all know this is best practice for your aquarium, so get cleaning and see your tank return to its former glory! If you need any advice on your individual tank, what to do, equipment queries etc, please feel free to visit us at Coral HQ.