How to Keep Fish Tank Clean without Changing Water? Top 6 Ways

Learn how to keep fish tank clean without changing water with some quick and easy to follow methods and tips that are super effective.

Having a fish tank in your house can be one of the most aesthetic thighs that you can do. It’s not only super pleasant to the visitors, but it also shares your personality and taste with them subconsciously. 

However, if you own an aquarium, you know that the maintenance of it is not the easiest part. It can be very annoying to change the water to keep it clean and the fishes alive. But there are ways to do it without necessarily changing the water.

How to Keep Fish Tank Clean without Changing Water


Let’s cover some of the best ways on how to keep fish tank clean without changing water that you can use.

Top 6 Ways to Keep the Fish Tanks Clean

These following tips will help you to keep your fish tank clean without changing the water.

how to keep fish tank clean without changing water
how to keep fish tank clean without changing water

(1) Plant Hornwort in the Tank

Hornwort plants are known for keeping the water fresh for the fishes. It helps to produce oxygen and absorb nitrogen, which makes the water non-toxic for the fish. You can plant some hornwort plants in your fish tank as well.

Also, it’ll help to bring life to the fish tank, and make it look more amazing. These are green plants that add more details and a calming scene for the eyes. You can grab some hornwort plants online, or search in your local pet shop for these plants. These are undoubtedly the best things you can get for your fish tank.

(2) Use Scrubber to Clean Tank Walls

One of the most common issues with a fish tank is that the walls get dirty pretty quickly. In that case, you can use a scrubber to clean these off. Purchase some algae scrub pads online or at your local marketplace. Then get two magnets, and attach one to the pad using an aquarium safe glue. These are non-toxic glues that won’t harm the fishes.

Once you do all the prep work, place the scrubber inside the tank, and use the other magnet to drag and clean the tank. That’ll let you clean the whole fish tank without removing the water. 

(3) Cleaning the Tank Decorations

If your tanks have some decorations, you probably know that they tend to get dirty after a while. You can clean these with some weak bleach solution. Just put the decorations to soak in the solution, and let it soak for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Then you can give it a little scrub if you see visible dirt. Otherwise, rinse everything properly and you can just put it in the fish tank without any problem. Make sure to use a weak solution of bleach; you can go for 10 percent bleach.

(4) Replace the Carbon Media

The carbon media is a critical part of the filter, which helps to remove toxic stuff from the water tank. That way the fishes don’t get hurt by these. However, if you install the carbon filter media, it’ll start to lose its effectiveness as time goes.

So, you must replace it regularly to keep the water non-toxic. It’s recommended to replace the carbon media once every 3 to 4 weeks if possible.

(5) Clean the Outer Glass

It’s not always about the inside of the fish tank that gets dirty. Sometimes you’d need to clean the outer glass to make the aquarium look as good as new. You can use aquarium-safe lime cleaner to clean the glass and remove any sticky dirt.

However, you don’t need to apply too much of these products. Just spray a little bit and wipe it clean with a clean piece of cloth.

(6) Clean the fishnets

If you leave the fishnets uncleaned for too long, it risks bacteria buildup that can harm the fishes. Make a disinfecting solution and soak the fishnet in there, and leave it for 15 minutes. Then you can reinstall it, and it’s going to enhance the appearance and the lifespan of the fishes.

Tips to Keep the Water Clean

If you want to keep the fish tank clean, you must replace the water after a while. However, let’s go over some tips to keep the water clean.

  • Avoid feeding too much: If you feed your fishes too much, the water is going to get dirty sooner. That’ll require you to change the water more often. So, you should stop overfeeding the fish to keep the water fresh for longer.
  • Add Live Plants: Adding live plants will make the water usable for longer. That’s because it helps to produce more oxygen in the water and absorb the nitrogen from the water. That also helps to increase the lifespan of the fishes as well. You can try out planting hornwort in the fish tank as it’s one of the best plants to have there.
  • Be Careful with the Lights: Lights help to give a wonderful effect to the fish tank. However, if you keep the light on for too long, it’s going to mess with the temperature. Don’t add strong lighting directly to your fish tank. If you have to, try considering dimming it down as much as you can.
  • Get the Placement Right: When it comes to a fish tank, placement is everything. You never want to keep it near a window where there’s direct sunlight. It’s going to devastate the water, and you don’t want it to happen. Also, keep it away from all the cooling vents as well. Keep it at a mid-temperature range, and it’s going to keep the water healthy for the fish.

If you follow these tips, you won’t have to constantly change the water from the fish tank.

To Wrap up

You just went through a few effective methods on how to keep fish tank clean without changing water. As you saw, it’s pretty simple to do, and it doesn’t take as much time and effort as replacing the water in the fish tank.

But make sure to use some of the methods to keep the tank clean. It’ll keep the aquarium looking amazing, and it’ll help the fishes to stay healthy as well.

Writer: Shyran Khan Joy

1 thought on “How to Keep Fish Tank Clean without Changing Water? Top 6 Ways”

  1. Many people loves to have fish equarium and fish tank for their enjoyment and decoration purpose for the house but it’s a mess to clean it.for sorting out this problem here is the way how to clean a fish tank, you should have stuffs such as Filter Pads Charcoal Air Atones Air Tubing etc. and discharge the connection of pumps Heaters Lights Coolers Dispensers and then clean decoration, change the water.

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