Fish tanks are a great way to keep your family pets, such as goldfish and guppies, in the comfort of your own home. However, you will need to ensure that you take care of your tank properly for them to last you for a long time.
Let’s explore how long fish tanks last, what they require for upkeep, and how best to look after them. By saying fish tanks, I mean the complete package including seals, filters, and heaters that all add up to a complete fish tank.
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It’s impossible to call the life span of a fish tank simply by meaning the outer body of the fish tank because all the running parts of a tank are from within the waters of the tank.
Let’s go.
A Fishtank lifespan varies depending on how well looked after and maintained it is. There is no simple answer that fits all tanks but as a rule glass fish tanks will last for up to 10 years if properly maintained.
From my own years of experience, it all depends on how well you look after your fish tank during this time – so read our article for some helpful tips to help you work out how long you should get from your fish tank.
First of all, let’s look at the pros and cons of the two most popular fish tanks, Glass and Acrylic. From here, we can then determine which one is most suitable for you and also give a rough guide to its life span.
Glass Fish Tanks- Pro’s and Con’s
Maintenance of Fish Tanks
Having a simple maintenance routine will help to keep the tank in its best condition and this will increase the life span of the tank. Can you imagine running a car without a service each year?
With a fish tank, most still have moving parts such as filters and heaters that need checking on a regular basis. Water like the oil on a car needs changing and neglecting any of this can have an impact on the life of your tank.
Maintenance – How often should I clean my fish tank
Cleaning the aquarium should be a gradual process. It is not practical to clean every surface in your tank on a daily or weekly basis, and it can even have negative impacts on beneficial bacteria if you are too thorough when cleaning certain areas of the aquarium at once.
To minimize these effects, try staggering which parts of your tank need an intense scrubbing throughout the week so that there isn’t any disruption with nitrates/ammonia levels from all this activity happening simultaneously. You might also want to test water 3-4 days after getting back into things just for peace of mind!
Daily Maintenance – Before Feeding Your Fish
You’ve gotta check the filter, lights, and other equipment to make sure everything is running smoothly. And don’t forget that when it comes to fish tanks you should examine them every day before feeding so they’re easy for counting!
You’ll want to count how many are in there because sometimes some get sick or eaten by others and you might need em back as soon as possible. So once a day go over all your aquariums with an eye out just in case something’s wrong.
It’s checking the tank on a daily basis that will highlight any issues such as cracks or leaking seals. This way, you can maintain the tank easier and get more life out of your tank.
Leaking seals are one of the main reasons for people throwing away their fish tank, and hence reducing its life span.
This does not have to be the end of your fish tank’s life. To reseal your tank is not that difficult to do, and can save you money in the long run. Have a look at the video below on how to reseal a fish tank, it’s a great watch with tons of top tips.
Taking simple notes is a great way to keep track of all the different things that may be happening with your tanks. You don’t have to write in it every day, but just use it as you would any other form of record-keeping for anything out of the ordinary that catches your eyes.
Whether notes about temperature drops by one degree over four days (which could mean trouble on your heater) or recording when someone feeds their fish twice a week instead of once if something odd happens do date note so that we can catch trends quickly before they become problems.
With these notes in hand, you can now easily identify any faults as they occur and fix them immediately. This will in turn increase the life span of your fish tank as well as saving your fish from any mishaps.
The last thing we need to find is a fish tank half empty of water due to leaking seals or cracks that could have been spotted earlier and repaired.
Let’s conclude, a glass fish tank will definitely last you the longest if looked after and maintained properly. A glass tank should last for up to 10 years or even longer if you follow our simple guide.
