How to Clean a Dirty Fish Aquarium

Keeping a fish aquarium clean is of the utmost importance to ensure it doesn't appear neglected. There is nothing more disgusting that a dirty aquarium sitting in plain sight for everyone to see when they walk in to a room.

Steps to Cleaning a Fish Aquarium

1. Use a fish net to remove any fish that are in the aquarium.


2. Drain the water from the tank. 


3. Remove all the decorations and artificial plants from the tank.


4. Fill a 5-gallon bucket with clean water.


5. Pour some of the water from the bucket into the fish tank and slosh it around. This should be done to remove any loose debris in the tank.


6. Use an algae pad to scrub the algae off the inside glass of the tank.


7. Pour some more water from the bucket into the aquarium and slosh it around. This will remove the algae and debris you have loosed with the scrubbing process.


8. Continue repeating steps 5 and 6 until all of the algae and debris have been dislodged from the inside glass of the tank. 


9. Remove the dirty water from the tank and use paper towels to dry out the inside of the tank.


10. Place the decorations and artificial plants previously removed from the tank and place them in a sink filled with warm water.


11. Pour in a couple of capfuls of bleach in the water and allow the plants and decorations to soak for approximately 30 minutes.


12.  Remove decorations and plants from cleaning solution and rinse them off under cleaning running water and lay them on a paper towel to dry.


13. Use glass cleaner to clean the outside of the tank.


14. Place the decorations back inside the tank and refill with clean water.