If you’re reading this, you might be looking for ways on how to clean aquarium plants? Well, there are multiple ways on how you can clean your aquarium plants. There are also cleaning solutions that you can use to make sure that you clean them thoroughly and are safe to be within one space with your pet fishes.
Aquarium plants are categorized into living and artificial. Artificial plants come in both plastic and silk and when they’re in the water, they look exactly like live plants. Unlike artificial plants, live plants are way more tedious to clean. You cannot expose it to solutions that might damage it, disrupt its growth, and eventually, affect your pet fishes.
This material will provide you helpful tips that can help you clean your aquarium plants using natural ingredients such as vinegar and make them look brand new and make them look good for your pest fish. So, if you’re ready here is how you should clean your aquarium plants using vinegar.
How to Clean Live Plants
Cleaning live plants is a very tedious process because unlike silk or plastic plants they can be killed or damaged in the process. However, you can still clean them in the same way as you clean artificial plants. While the plant remains in place in the aquarium, you can gently rub off ordinary debris. However, for algae overgrowth, you need to remove the plant from the tank and under running water, scrub it by hand – still gently. Extreme algae overgrowth can kill your plants. So, if scrubbing won’t get it off, you can create a solution that you can try to help you address the algae growth.
There are multiple solutions that will help you on how to clean aquarium plants, but the more natural solution is made using vinegar. To create the solution, mix ½ cup of vinegar with ½ gallon of distilled water in a large bowl, basin, pail, or anything that can contain the solution. Once it is thoroughly mixed, soak the plant with algae overgrowth in it for 5 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly with tap water or distilled water before putting it back in your aquarium.
You can also use the solution to treat plants that have developed a disease, bacteria, or fungi. Treating your plants during the early development of a disease can save your entire plant from dying and contaminating other plants or the entire aquarium that will be deadly for your fishes.
How to Clean Artificial Plants
Compared to love plants, artificial plants are easier to clean because they can’t be killed. But, that doesn’t mean they can’t be damaged by vigorous scrubbing or chemicals. You can shake the plants gently or you can use your fingers to brush off particles of debris that fall on plants. If the particles continue to cling on to the artificial plants even after the initial cleaning process, you can remove the plants from the tank and using an algae brush or a soft-bristled toothbrush to scrub the plants gently.
For algae that are difficult to remove, you can make a solution that will help you how to clean the aquarium plants, that you can get rid of it without affecting the color of the plants. You mix ½ cup of vinegar with a ½ gallon of water and soak the plants with stubborn algae for 15 minutes. After soaking, you need to scrub the algae with a different soft bristle toothbrush or a new algae pad to avoid contaminating the plant with the same bacteria that causes the algae to grow. Rinse the plants completely well in distilled water or tap water. Air dry them afterward. Air drying helps remove any residual vinegar solution.
Prevention
As the phrase goes, “Prevention is better than cure.”, as pet owners, it is your responsibility to check on your pets’ boxes, cages, or in this case aquarium and see if everything in it is in good shape after all the aquarium is a habitat and everything in it place a major role in making sure that your pet fishes are happy and healthy. So, at once each week, check your tank to see if there is debris that needs to be shaken off from the plants; and see if there are algae growing on your plants and try to rub and scrub it off gently to avoid affecting the whole plant.
It is also handy to use natural ingredients like vinegar or lemon to get rid of algae from live plants or to quarantine live plants when needed. The vinegar has natural acidity that can get rid of bacteria without damaging, especially the live plants. Not artificial plants should be less of your concern. Artificial plants are easier to maintain, but it still needs to be checked up on once in a while too to guarantee that it is still serving its purpose. Now that you know the most natural way on how to clean aquarium plants, you can now maintain your aquarium easily. Find out more about aquarium care.