An aquarium can be a beautiful addition to any home, and studies have even shown that having fish can offer such a calming effect for their owners that those with high blood pressure have seen it go down.
There are a plethora of reasons people choose to have fish, and setting up an aquarium can be a fun, creative experience that will ensure your fish will have a happy and healthy life.
Before we go any further, please note: Don’t buy your fish at the same time you buy your tank. Take your tank home and prepare it for your new fish before you go to the store to buy them.
The first thing you’ll do, before you even go to the store to purchase an aquarium, is deciding where in your home you want to keep it. That will allow you to get an idea of how big an aquarium you’ll need. (Don’t forget, you’ll also need an aquarium stand, unless you already have someplace to hold the tank.)
When you’re deciding where to keep the aquarium, make sure it’s close to an electrical outlet and not in direct sunlight at any time of the day. Also, consider the shape of tank you want when you’re deciding where to put it.
Once you’ve decided where you want your tank to go and the shape you’d like, you’re ready to go to the pet store. In addition to purchasing a tank, you’ll need several other things, including: a cover, lighting, filters, an air pump, and a heater.cleaning-fish-tank.html
Cover. Consider purchasing a tightly fitting cover for your aquarium. A cover can serve two very important purposes. First, it can prevent your fish from jumping out of the tank. Second, if you have free flying birds, pets that are likely to try to get into the tank, or children, you can protect both them and your fish.
Lighting. Most covers allow fish owners to also add fluorescent lights. Fluorescent lights serve several purposes. They will illuminate your aquarium and your fish, and the lights will help your tank’s plants grow. Fluorescent lighting is ideal because it saves on electricity and doesn’t get too hot.
Make sure you don’t leave the lights on for your fish 24 hours a day. Rather, allow your fish darkness for a minimum of 12 hours each day. Like all other animals, fish need time to sleep.
Air pump. An air pump is critical to your fish’s health and happiness: It gives your fish the oxygen they need to breathe. Always place the air pump near the top of the tank.
What is the best way to avoid fish tank cleaning? Is it to simply ignore that it is dirty? Or is it to tape picture of a clean fish tank on the front of your dirty fish tank? Surprisingly, it’s neither.
Filters. Filters are essential to maintaining a healthy living space for your fish, as they ensure debris is taken out of the water while good bacteria is left in it. Make sure you clean your filters regularly, so you can clear out any debris stuck in them.
The best way to avoid fish tank cleaning is to construct your fish tank in such an optimal way that you actually don’t need to clean it. You’re probably thinking, “yeah right,” but aquarium construction has actually become an art form in recent years, with worldwide participants numbering in the tens of millions.
Heater. Both saltwater and freshwater fish will need a heater that you should keep between, preferably, 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. Should the temperature in your fish’s tank drop or rise dramatically, it could have severe consequences, including death.
But what if my fish tank is already nasty? If that is your case, you should purchase a bottle of fish tank cleaner from your local pet store. Many fish tank cleaners can now be used in live tanks and often contain special bacteria that will break down organic materials, reduce odor, and reduce sludge.
Finally, when you go to the pet store to purchase an aquarium, find a knowledgeable associate with a good understanding of fish and how to set up an aquarium. That way, if you have questions, he can answer them for you and help you make the best decisions as you plan to set up your aquarium. Only once you have the aquarium set up should you head to the pet store to purchase your fish.
Now how do I keep it clean? This brings us back to the art of fish tank construction. If you want to avoid fish tank cleaning, you will need to recreate your fish’s exact habitat inside the tank. If your fish would normally live in neutral pH, tropical, saltwater ecosystems, you will want to create exactly that in your tank to avoid fish tank cleaning.
Additionally, you will want to artificially recreate all the disposal mechanisms that are present in such an ecosystem. For instance, depending on your ecosystem, you might be able to purchase snails or suckerfish to reduce the sludge in your tank. If you’re having problems with plant death in your aquarium, you may want consider getting a carbon dioxide pump for the plants. This seems anti-intuitive, since fish tanks almost always have oxygen pumps; but if you have too many plants and they’re dying and creating sludge, you might be better off without the oxygen pump.