Tip of the Day – 5/30/2014

Aquarium maintenance goes beyond scraping the glass and doing water changes. There should also be some form of preventative maintenance for aquarium equipment as well. At specific intervals, certain items should be taken out of service, completely broken down, cleaned thoroughly, inspected for issues, and have consumable items replaced. Water pumps are probably the biggest item that will need this sort of maintenance, as they have plenty of moving parts. Things like light fixtures, especially LEDs, don’t have many moving parts outside of a cooling fan, and most of the time the only thing that needs to be maintained is the lamps. Anyways, water pumps are in constant operation on our aquariums, whether they be creating current in the display, moving water from the sump to the main tank, or powering a protein skimmer. Because they are in use 24/7, it is important to make sure they are operating at peak capacity. So, develop your own maintenance routine and make sure to clean intake grills, inspect impellers and motor blocks, remove calcium deposits and algae buildup, and replace O-rings as needed. Of course, this maintenance also means having spare parts on hand if anything does need to be replaced. Doing these simple steps will save you a lot of headache in the long run.