Aquarium Care

Each component that makes up your aquarium environment plays a significant role in successful aquarium maintenance. However, before you go and buy fish tank materials, there are three key elements that you should look into if you want to achieve a beautiful aquarium. These include aquarium flooring, water, and plants.

Putting gravel or sand at the bottom of your tank is not always necessary, unless you are using rooted aquarium plants. If you find gravel more appealing than a sandy bottom, make sure to buy fish tank gravel that is the same size as-or slightly larger than-bird gravel to achieve the best results. Wash the gravel thoroughly before placing them inside your aquarium. Gravel works great with live plants, but if you prefer to use sand, choose a coarser variety. Fine sand is packed too tightly when wet, and this hinders the growth of underwater plants.

Ensuring the quality of water is among the most crucial tasks of an aquarist. You need to buy fish tank accessories that will make the water suitable for fishkeeping. As much as possible, use conditioned water, which refers to water that fish have already lived in. A strange fact about fish is that their own waste products, or “clean dirt,” make the water more habitable for them. If you plan to buy fish tank cleaning tools, this information will help you save more. Instead of purchasing all those expensive aquarium gadgets for frequent water replacement, you can simply opt for algae scrapers and tools for scooping out only “dirty dirt,” such as uneaten food, dead fish, and foreign particles.

If it’s your first time to set up an aquarium, be sure to let chlorine-treated tap water stand before exposing your fish to it. Chlorine is toxic to fish, and waiting for the water to be at room temperature gives you time to allow the chlorine to dissipate. Buy fish tank thermometers to keep an eye on water temperature, as this is critical in fishkeeping. Newly filled aquariums are normally murky. To provide clear water for your fish, give them a modest amount of food in the first two weeks.

Contrary to popular belief, fish don’t need live plants for oxygen supply and carbon dioxide release. This doesn’t make plants less important, though. If you wish for a more natural setting for your fish, a well-planted aquarium is a good playground for the fish. In terms of aesthetics, it doesn’t really matter much if you want to purchase plastic or live plants, rooted or not. However, live plants in good condition do keep the water from turning green.

Sunlight enables photosynthesis to take place. Hence, direct exposure to it also causes rapid algae growth. As an alternative, buy fish tank lighting, which is just as suitable for fish as sunlight. You must set the timer and keep the light on for eight to nine hours only.

The type of lighting needed by your tank will depend on the kind of plants you use. Fanwort and water thyme are examples of plants that need a lot of lighting. Arrowhead and floating fern can survive with minimal light.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to decorate a home aquarium. If you examine the most important elements of an aquarium, you’ll know which accessories are really necessary and which items you can do without for now.

Grant Smith is a featured member and guest speaker at lots aquarium clubs, as well as having a few very large tanks of his own. If you are planning to buy a fish tank, please go to marinedepot.com to learn more about Current USA aquariums.

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If you want to have healthy fish, you need to have the right type of water in your fish tank. Many people who are just beginning to set up a fish tank don’t understand how important it is to test your water and treat it for any imbalances. You need to have the right water for your fish.

Different fish have different requirements when it comes to the condition of the water that they will do best in. It is always a good idea to test your water for the pH, gH, and kH levels and try to get fish that thrive in water similar to the water that you already have. This will mean less work for you when it comes to fish tank water treatment.

Tap water tends to be the best type of water for your freshwater fish tanks, but it does need some treatment before it can be used. Chlorine is not good for fish, so you need to remove the chlorine from the water before adding it to your tank. You can use a conditioner as a way to try to correct any imbalances in your water and add beneficial substances. This type of fish tank water treatment is common. It will get rid of the chlorine. You can also leave tap water sitting out for 24 hours to get rid of chlorine, though this will not correct any other imbalances.

If the pH of your water is not at the right level, or is not remaining stable, you might need to do a fish tank water treatment in order to correct this. Sometimes this can be as simple as mixing a small amount of spring water in with the tank water. Other times you will need to treat whatever is causing the pH fluctuation.

You also need to make sure that the kH, or concentration of carbonates and bicarbonates, in your water is at the proper level. These help to buffer the water so that the pH stays more constant, otherwise as time goes on it will get acidic. There are a number of different options you can use for fish tank water treatment if you have high or low kH levels, including various chemicals you can purchase at the store.

You gH is the general hardness of your water. Some fish prefer harder water and some prefer softer water. You can use peat moss to soften the water, or add rocks to help harden the water. The simplest thing to do is get fish that suit the water that you already have so you don’t need to do too much treatment of your water.

Dustin Williams is a writer and hobbyist who has kept aquarium fish for several years. He has learned much about owning a home aquarium from reading books and personal experience. To learn more about proper fish tank water treatment please visit HomeAquariumSupplies.com.

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Did you ever think you couldn’t have fish because “they just die”? If all your fish die within a week of buying them, it’s not just the fish. The most common cause of mass fish deaths is an improperly cycled tank. Before you buy any fish, it’s absolutely imperative to make sure your aquarium is well-cycled.

What is cycling? Simply put, the cycling process is the time it takes to set up a biological filter for the nitrogen cycle to function inside the aquarium. Your aquarium is much more than a tank full of water, it has to be an entire contained eco-system to keep your fish healthy. The goal with your cycling time is to develop a culture of beneficial bacteria (or “bio-bugs”) that will break down the ammonia from the fish’s waste into nitrites, and then from nitrites into nitrates. Ammonia is extremely toxic to your fish and will kill them very quickly with much less than one part per million in your aquarium.

There are several methods for cycling. This is a method that is very effective, easy to do even for beginners and does not subject any live creatures to the potentially deadly cycling process. First, set up your aquarium with filtration, heater, aerator, etc. and fill with water. Add whatever de-chlorinator you prefer; if you’re not sure what’s in your water be sure you use a treatment that eliminates or neutralizes chlorine, chloramines and potentially harmful metals. With the filter running, add a tiny amount of fish food…about one or two flakes. The food can be old, stale food that’s no good for feeding anymore — it’s only there to rot. As the food decomposes it will produce the ammonia that will feed the bio-bugs as they get established in your aquarium.

That’s it! Keep adding one or two flakes every day throughout the cycling process, then do a partial water change before you add fish. It’s safe to add fish when both ammonia and nitrites test at zero but there are nitrates in the tank to show that ammonia is actually being broken down. A full cycle takes 36 days to complete, though some hardier fish can be added after a couple of weeks as long as you keep a close eye on the water parameters.

Don’t want to wait 36 days? There are a few products on the market that can help speed up the process. There are bottled, refrigerated products such as Bio-Spira that can give the cycle a big boost by adding the bio-bugs directly (via a liquid) instead of having to wait for them to get established in the aquarium. The only problem I’ve found with those products is that you add them, it boosts the bacteria, and that’s the end of its use. One great cycle-time reducer is the EcoBio-Block. This product is a little more expensive than Bio-Spira, but you get a lot better value for your money.

To use the EcoBio-Block, rinse it off in some de-chlorinated water and then place it in the tank after the water has been treated and filtration is going. Make sure you set it somewhere near the aerator or below the flow of an HOB filter (the kind that hang on the back of your aquarium). The EcoBio-Block has the beneficial bacteria the aquarium needs sealed into it; the flow of water facilitates the dissolving of the seal and ensures that the bio-bugs get the oxygen they need. These blocks can take a couple of weeks to start working (though sometimes they work much faster), and once it’s working you’ll be able to begin adding the fish you want, hardy or not, because this effectively finishes the cycle. Test your water; it may not be necessary to do a partial water change before adding fish unless there’s an excess of decomposed fish food in the bottom. Don’t take the block out! The EcoBio-Block is still useful for about 1 1/2 to 2 years; it’ll keep the bio-bug population healthy and contains all the trace minerals that normally have to be replenished through water changes. The minerals are time-released into the water to keep it healthy without constant water changes.

In short, the cycling process is simple but time-consuming. If you decide to shorten the cycle time take care with which product you purchase to help, there are a lot on the market that don’t actually do what you need. The above have proven to be good, reliable products that greatly aid with this process. Once you’ve achieved a good biological filter and the nitrogen cycle is up and running, you can start adding the fish!

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