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 Some enjoy the work required to maintain an aquarium, others endure it, and still others pay somebody else to maintain their fish tank for them. However, the great majority agree that this occassional expenditure of effort is well worth it. The amount of maintenance required will vary greatly depending on the aquarium setup, but here are some factors that can affect how much work is involved.

Algae

algae are small plants that grow inside the fish tank. They are not plants in the traditional sense. That is, they do not resemble the plants you might expect to see outside. algae is more comparable to moss. algae will grow on the sides of the fish tank and on most ornaments. Like most plant life, algae creates its food from light via a process called photosynthesis. Therefore, the amount of algae growth in the aquarium is affected by the amount of light in the aquarium. algae can be good in moderation. Certain types of algae, like green algae, are a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Others, though, such as red algae, can be bad for an aquarium.
Among other things, too much algae can cause the fish tank to look bad. There are a number of ways for removing or reducing algea.

Blade Algae Scraper

This algae scraper is used much the same way snow scrapers are used to clean cars during the winter. The blade severs the algae from the sides of the tank and is very effective against stubborn algae that will not come off of the glass such as green algae. A word of warning: you do not want to run the blade against the edges of the tank because it can sever the silicone that holds the sides of the tank together!

Pad Algae Cleaner

The pad algae cleaner is good for quickly getting rid of algae that comes off easily, such as brown algae, but sometimes is not effective enough on hard to clean algae, such as green algae. Pad algae cleaners usually will not affect the silicone in the corners of the tank unless the pad is made of very coarse material.

Magnetic algae cleaner

The magnetic algae cleaner is different from algae scrapers because one half goes inside the fish tank and is "held" magnetically to the other half which is outside the tank against the glass. The inside half has material that breaks up the algae as it is pulled over the surface of the fish tank by moving the half that is outside of the aquarium. Be careful not to pull the outside half away from the glass befor you have shimmeyed the inside half to the surface of the water because if the magnetic hold is broken the inside half will fall down to the bottom of the fish tank where you'll have to fish it out.

Debris

Depending on the type of fish you keep, debris can accumulate at the bottom of the fish tank on the sand bed or gravel. An ideal time to remove such debris is during a water change. Large pieces of debris may be removable with a net. Chances are, though, that debris will be small and difficult to scoop out in a net because of its consistency.

If you do a water change using a siphon to suck the water out of your fish tank, you can run the siphon tube over the sand bed or gravel and effectively vacuum the debris out of your fish tank. You can start a siphon by putting one end of a tube in your aquarium and strongly inhaling while the other end is in your mouth. So long as the fish tank is higher than the other end of the tube, this should cause water to begin rushing out. Remember to remove the tube from your mouth quickly or you may get a mouthful of dirty aquarium water!

Once the siphon is started you should secure the end of the tube that was in your mouth so that the water empties out into some kind of basin. Ideally you'd have a sink or tub nearby so that the water can go right down the drain. Otherwise you can have the water run into a bucket that you can carry away later. With the end of the tube that is not in the water firmly secured (you don't want water emptying from your aquarium onto your floor!), take the end of the tube that is in the aquarium and guide it over the surface of the sand bed or gravel. You should see debris list from your substrate and flow up the tube with the water.