sera guide - Marine aquariums

9.2 Water changes Regular water changes of 10% per week, be- ginning after the first three month activation phase, are an important contribution to suc- cessful care. It is advisable to clean the bot- tom gravel along with the water change. This is easy to do with the sera gravel washer. You can avoid salinity variations with a mark- ing on the outside of the aquarium. Always top up the aquarium with water up to the marking as to replenish the evaporated wa- ter. The water is always conditioned with sera aquatan for pollutant removal. You will need: • A watering can and two clean buckets re- served only for the aquarium. They must never have been in contact with cleaning agents • Two meters of aquarium hose or, even better, a sera gravel washer • A towel or a shallow bowl in case of spilling water • By all means pull the mains plugs, e.g. those of the heater, the filter, and the lighting First place the two buckets on the towel or in the bowl. Then let the water flow from the aquarium into the buckets. There are differ- ent ways to do so: Many aquarists hold the hose end into the aquarium and then briefly suck the water from the other end with their mouth. However, this method requires some prac- tice. Sometimes, the water either will not flow, or you may accidentally swallow a big gulp of aquarium water. You can siphon the water off more elegantly with the sera gravel washer. By doing so, you will serve two purposes at once. You will easily and thoroughly remove sludge from the aquarium gravel with the sera gravel washer, and you will change a part of the water at the same time. After you removed the aquarium water as far as necessary, you can now also perform smaller cleaning activities. 41 An important tip Mark the outside of the aquar- ium glass with adhesive tape or the like up to where you wish to empty the tank. !!