Once the tank has completed the cycling process, it's time to get the tank ready for adding some new livestock.
1 ) Do a partial (20%) water change as soon as possible or at least within about 5 days after the ammonia and nitrite readings drop to zero.
2 ) Perform some basic cleaning tasks:
- Lightly siphoning up any loose waste and/or nuisance type algae that may be present on the bottom of the tank. This does NOT mean to siphon clean the substrate, but only remove any accumulated organic matter that has settled on just the surface of the substrate.
- Clean off the front panel of
the tank.
- Rinse out or replace the materials used in any type of
"mechanical" water filtering devices, such as flosses, cartridges, sponges or pads.
Basic Maintenance Tips
Mechanical water filtering devices are only intended to be used to collect and
remove excess debris or free-floating particulate matter from the aquarium water, which is a food source for
nitrate. Therefore, it does no harm after the tank has cycled to rinse or change such materials regularly. For
example, we change the micron pleat catridge in our Magnum 350 canister filter when the water output starts
to diminish, which is at least once a week.
If nitrate begins to build up as the aquarium matures, siphon out any loose debris or organic matter present and/or do one or a few 25-50% water changes to bring the nitrate down to a level that is acceptable for either a fish-only or reef tank system. By keeping the nitrate under control it will help to keep algae blooms that can occur at this stage as well as throughout the lifetime of your aquarium from becoming a big problem.
