Maintenance
Aquarium maintenance – this needs to be done on a daily or weekly basis
Aquarium maintenance – this needs to be done on a daily or weekly basis
Contrary to what most people think keeping an aquarium is the easiest of all pet hobbies! But, of course, some jobs still need to be done. Here is an overview showing you which jobs you have to do:
Switch light on in the morning, switch light off after approx. 10 h. Can be done by a timer or light control.
Switch CO2 fertiliser system on in the morning and off at night. The switching on and off can be taken over by a solenoid valve ( JBL PROFLORA v002 ). You can connect the solenoid valve to the timer, which also turns the light on in the morning and off at night.
Temperature control: 1 x daily take a quick glance at your aquarium thermometer, whether your set water temperature is still maintained.
Fish feeding: most aquarium fish need to be fed 2-3 times a day. Only fry need to have food more often; large predators not as often. Take your time during the feeding and observe your fish when they eat. Fish which seclude themselves or don’t eat at once should be more closely monitored, to see whether there is a possible disease.
Daily fertilisation: for demanding plants a weekly basic fertilisation is not enough. Here you need to add a daily fertiliser. Here you can find out how the perfect fertilisation works: Fertilising .
Daily care measures
We show you everything you need to do each day and explain how to do it properly: temperature control, feeding and observation.
Plant feeding: please supply your aquarium plants 1 x per week with the basic liquid fertiliser.
You will find more information under: Fertilising .
Cleaning the panes: each aquarium works differently, but after about one week a light algae coating forms on the glass panes which you can quickly and easily remove with a JBL glass cleaner. With the JBL FLOATY II you even don’t get wet arms and can comfortably and efficiently clean the panes from outside within a few minutes.
Weekly care measures
We show you everything you need to do each week and explain how to do it properly: the care of your aquarium plants and the most important water tests
Trimming plants: Ideally plants grow fast and vigorously so that you hardly need to intervene. Otherwise they grow too close, continue growing, when lying on the water surface, and take away the light from other plants. Trim the plants with the scissors.
You will find more information under Plant care .
Partial water change & substrate cleaning: The most important care measure is the partial water change, which should be carried out together with the substrate cleaning. Siphon about 1/3 of the aquarium water with a hose. Please connect the hose with a gravel cleaner, instead of just sucking off clear water. Go with its suction piece gradually through the aquarium ground and siphon the debris off (similar to a vacuum cleaner). Subsequently the sucked off water need to be replaced by tap water and with the water conditioner JBL Biotopol you can remove the heavy metals and neutralise any chlorine contained in the water.
You will find more information under Cleaning .
Internal filters need to be cleaned every two weeks. Since external filters have a larger volume their cleaning interval may be longer.
After cleaning, ALWAYS inoculate your filter with starter bacteria ( JBL FilterStart ) directly onto the cleaned filter material. This shortens the time needed to get your filter running biologically again from weeks to a few hours, and the filter material is colonised by beneficial cleaning bacteria and not by pathogenic germs. Do NOT carry out the filter cleaning and the partial water change on the same day! This would be too strong an intervention in the biology of your aquarium.
Maintenance every 2 weeks: partial water change, water evaporation and water treatment
We show you everything you need to do every two weeks and explain how to do it properly: the important water change, what to do if water evaporates and the water treatment after the partial water change.
Filter cleaning of external filters: Depending on the dirt accumulation the complete filter or maybe only the pre-filter (as in the External filters range) needs to be cleaned under running water. Please inoculate the filter again with filter bacteria ( JBL FilterStart ) after cleaning.
Cleaning of cover pane: In the course of time limestone deposits on the cover pane and reduces the intensity of the lighting which reaches the aquarium water. You easily can remove the lime residue with an acidic cleaning agent. Please make sure that no cleaner residues reach your aquarium water. JBL has a special, non-toxic glass cleaner in its range: JBL PROCLEAN AQUA .
Getting CO2 cylinders filled: It is difficult to say how long your CO2 storage cylinder lasts, but often you need to refill it after 4-8 weeks. If a quick refill of your storage cylinder is not possible a temporary change to a disposable cylinder ( JBL PROFLORA u500 ) can help.
You will find more information under CO2 plant fertilisation .
Monthly maintenance: filter cleaning, plant fertilisation, pane cleaning
We show you everything you need to do each month and explain how to do it properly: cleaning your filter, fertilising your plants and cleaning the panes.
The hoses of your external filter become more and more clogged over time due to biological processes. It then feels “slimy" when you reach into the hose with your finger. This can reduce the filter performance by up to 25 %! With a hose brush ( JBL Cleany ) you will have your hoses clean again in no time and have full filter performance again.
In case you don’t use LED light but fluorescent tubes, you’ll need to replace them once a year, even if they still give off light. The spectrum of the tubes has a negative impact and the emitted light quantity is reduced. Fluorescent tubes you will find here: SOLAR fluorescent tubes T5 & SOLAR fluorescent tubes T8 .
UV-C water clarifiers: Depending on the operating hours a replacement of the UV-C bulbs is due once a year. This is not difficult: open casing, remove old bulb, clip in new one, close casing – that’s it! On this occasion you might also clean the glass cylinder. Algae can overgrow it and hinder the UV-C radiation, making it no longer fully effective.
Read more about this at UV-C .