How to setup a freshwater aquarium
This is a 11-step guide to setting up a freshwater aquarium at home.
Team you will need:
Aquarius
Aquarium gravel
Aquarium filter
Replacement Filter Media
Heater
Other decorations (such as plants)
Chemical test kits
Fish feed
Aquarium vacuum
Netting
Glass Scrubber
5-gallon bucket
Strainer pasta
1: Realize the responsibility involved.
A tropical fish tank is like having a dog or cat when it comes to the amount of effort on your part. To have a successful aquarium, you will work on it. Once a week, or at most once every two weeks, you have to do some maintenance on the tank. Most often water changes are made. You also have to feed the tropical fish at least once a day. If you is ready for the challenge, please proceed!
2: Decide on a size aquarium.
It's a good idea to keep in mind what type of tropical fish want to keep before purchasing an aquarium. Some tropical fish grow only one or two inches, while other types of tropical fish can grow 12 or 13 inches long! Know what type of tropical fish you want will help you decide the size of the tank will need. If this is your first time with an aquarium, I recommend you go with an aquarium of 10 or 20 gallons for now.
3: Decide the location of the aquarium.
Place the aquarium in an area where light and temperature of the tank will not be affected by source external, such as windows and heater vents. You will want to place your aquarium on a stand that will be able to maintain its total weight. A good rule to determine the total weight of a full aquarium is 10 pounds per gallon of water. For example, a 55-gallon tank weighs about 550 pounds when full of water!
4: Buy your aquarium and equipment.
Now is the time to decide on the type of filtering you want to use. You also have to purchase a heater capable of heating the tank size you have. Buy the gravel, plants, a power strip and other decorations. A good rule of thumb for the amount of gravel needed is 1 to 1.5 pounds of gravel per gallon of water.
5: Set up your aquarium and stand.
Wash the tank with just water! Do not use soap or detergents. Waste soap left behind will be harmful to tropical fish. If you are going to use an under gravel filter (not recommended), now it's time to configure too.
6: Wash Gravel, plants and decorations.
Be sure to wash the gravel thoroughly before adding it to your tank. An easy way to do this is to some of rocks in a pasta strainer and washed in your bathtub. Then put on clean sand in a clean 5-gallon bucket for transport to the aquarium. After adding the gravel You can place your plants and decorations.
7: Add water to the aquarium.
To avoid damaging your gravel and plants, can put a dish or plate in the center of your aquarium and direct the flow of water into the dish. Use of room temperature water to fill. To remove chlorine and chloramine, use something like Tetra aquarium AquaSafe. Not quite fill the tank until you are sure of the arrangement of its decoration. Otherwise, when you put your arm to move things around the water will overflow. Doh!
8: Set up your computer.
Install the heater, but not connect until the thermostat in the heater has adjusted to the temperature of the water. This usually takes about 15 minutes or less. Connect your filter and any other equipment you have, then finish off the tank water, just under the hood lip. Place your hood and light in the aquarium and then check your power cables to ensure they are free of water. I also recommend using a drip loop on all power cords to be very careful. Connect all machines on a power strip and then "activate" the aquarium.
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Wait, wait, wait and wait some more.
I know, want to add some tropical fish. But to do this right you must wait until the aquarium has cycled before adding fish. There are ways accelerate this process. Search the nitrogen cycle page to learn more. If you must use to make a cycle of fish, try to get a more resilient Danio species like zebra catfish or cherry. -
Add tropical fish.
Just add one or two fish at a time. Adding a couple tropical fish at a time gives your filtration system the time needed to assume greater biological load that the new fish introduce. When you bring home fish leave the bag floating in the tank for about 15 minutes to allow the fish to acclimate to temperature and pH of aquarium water. After 5 minutes of floating the bag should add some aquarium water bag for the fish to acclimatize to the pH levels in the aquarium. This will help reduce the amount of stress imposed on the tropical fish. He stressed tropical fish often leads to dead tropical fish! Do not feed the tropical fish in the first day. Probably not eat any food in the first day anyway. Let them know your new home. -
Get ready for regular maintenance.
Be prepared to spend some time once every week or two to clean the tank. Performing regular water changes will reduce nitrate levels and keep your tropical fish happy and healthy.
Please visit http://www.FishLore.com more about tropical fish.
About the Author
Mike is an editor at FishLore.com. Designed for beginners, http://www.FishLore.com provides tropical fish information, how-to guides, articles, fish profiles, FAQs, forums and more! FishLore.com – Tropical Fish & Aquarium Information.
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