Skyline.

How to set up and enjoy

Your first tropical fish aquarium

 

 

Introduction

   Please note, this is set up for tropical and not a salt water aquarium. I have no experience with salt water because the initial cost is much greater than with fresh water tanks. Setting up a tank takes a little time and patience, but it will be well worth it, and you may find yourself enjoying the beauty of your aquarium for hours at a time

   It is no surprise that fish make a wonderful addition to your living room, or bedroom. Fish are beautiful, and serene. It is a known fact that watching fish will lower your blood pressure and give you a feeling of relaxation. Just watching them as they casually swim through their own little private pool can give you an almost euphoric feeling. Fish may not be pets that you can play with, but they are, in the long run, very inexpensive. They are not noisy, they don’t shed on the furniture, they don’t eat very much at all and they don’t mess on your carpet. Aquariums are great to have, but there is a very specific way to set them up, and some very important things to know on how to take care of them, but nothing very hard at all.

      There are many styles and sizes of aquariums to choose from. Some are simple and some are very elaborate. It is up to you just how much money you want to spend on an aquarium. There is really no limit, but luckily, you can get aquarium kits for around $100 or less. I recommend a kit of 10 to 20 gallons. The kits include the aquarium, filter, heater, lights, and cover, thermometer, and other items depending on the kit you decide to buy.

   Figure out what kind of aquarium you want. The larger the aquarium, the more fish you can have. 10 gallon is pretty standard, but if you go twenty gallon, you can go long or tall with it, depending on the space you have available. A twenty tall takes the same floor space as a ten gallon. There are also many shapes of aquarium, including round or hexagon, but I prefer a flat front that allows a full view of the tank without distorting the view too much.

 

Setting up your aquarium

   Now, you must decide on a proper location where it will sit. You do not want to change your mind later, because moving a full aquarium is dangerous and not easy at all. Water weighs eight pounds per gallon, so you can imagine if you have a 20 gallon aquarium, there is already around 160 lbs. of water, and that is not counting the tank, stand, gravel, and all the other parts. Consider carefully where you want your aquarium. Hint, your aquarium runs on electricity.

   Find a spot in your home, away from direct sunlight. Also avoid areas of direct heating and air conditioning. Sunlight can play havoc in your aquarium. First of all, it can cause the growth of algae, which can cover the inside glass of your tank in no time. Sunlight will also heat your water, and the temperature of the water is critical. A good temperature range is 76° to 80°F (25° to 27°C). Also, fish cannot close their eyes. How would you like to live in a small glass box with the sun in your eyes all the time? I know I wouldn’t, so think about the fish.

   After you have chosen a good location, it is time to set up your aquarium tank. Whatever stand you decide to use, make sure it is strong, stable, and level. An aquarium that is not level will cause stress on the walls of the tank, and the water line will not be level.

Before you get started

   If you have a used tank or a new one, the first thing to do is to wash out the tank with plain cool water. NEVER USE SOAP OF ANY KIND. Soap will kill your fish. You may use a scrubby pad if you do it lightly, and only on any problem areas. Otherwise, use a soft, brad new sponge, and rinse the tank thoroughly. . If you have a used tank, set it in the tub and fill it up to see if it has any leaks. If it does, drain the tank by scooping almost all of the water out first, and then dump the rest. Dry the tank and let it set for a while to air dry. Get some sealer that is non-toxic to run along the seams inside your tank. Ask someone at the fish store if they can recommend a good sealer.

   Before you put gravel in your tank, there are some decisions to make. Filtration systems very and some are over the side of the tank, while others are under gravel. I like to use both at once. The under gravel filter will draw particles under the stones, and keep the bottom nice and clean, but over time, it will fill up under there, and you will have to take the aquarium apart to clean it, which is why I would never use an under gravel filter by itself. When you incorporate an over the side filter, the water stays cleaner, and well oxygenated, and the under gravel filter is left with minimal cleanup. This setup can last for years without bothering the under gravel filter.

   Set up your under gravel filter right on the bottom of the tank and make sure you connect the tube that will draw the water from the filter. Now, it’s time to put in the gravel.

 

Introducing gravel to your aquarium.

 

   Gravel comes in many colors and styles. I prefer natural, light colors, which help spread the light throughout the aquarium and make a good contrast against the fish so they are highly visible. Smooth gravel is best. It will not harm your fish. Abrasive gravel and rocks are not a good idea for an aquarium.

   Gravel must be rinsed in clean cool running water. Once again, never use any soap on anything going into your aquarium. Anyway, when gravel is in shipping, it rubs against itself, and grinds off little powder size particles which must be rinsed away. Leaving it would make your water cloudy for days. You can wash the gravel in a nice sized bucket. Get a brand new one. This one is going to be exclusively for the aquarium bucket for preparing water, and other jobs.

   Now, it’s time to get the gravel in the tank. There is a nice little trick you can do that will make your tank look much deeper front to back. If you put the gravel in level, there is already a natural distortion that happens from looking through the water, which gives more depth to the tank anyway. At the same time, it also make the bottom look like it’s going downhill, so here is how to fix that. Put enough gravel in the tank to make about an inch deep visible in the front, but slope the gavel up as high as three inches in the back. This will eliminate the illusion that your tank is sloping downhill and also extend the apparent horizon to seem further away in the back.

FILTRATION

   Aquarium filters are rated according to how many gallons they can move per hour. If you do not buy and aquarium kit, make sure to ask what filter you need for the size, and shape of aquarium you have. Remember, aquariums can be long or tall, so tell the salesperson what you have.

   Sometimes, the cover of the aquarium will have a particular spot to position your filter, but it is best if you can place the vacuum end somewhere around the middle of the back of the tank. You also need to get your water heater in a back corner. Leave both of these devices off for now. The tank must be full for them to operate properly and without damage.

   Next, you need to get the tank full of water. Start by slowly pouring the water in, to keep from disturbing the gravel too much. When it is about half full, you may introduce some ornaments and plants.

PLANTS

   Plastic plants work well because they stay in place better then live ones, however, you can get let strips that will bend around the bottoms of the live plants if you wish to do so. Arrange the large plants in the back. Placed properly, they can hide the filter and heater parts without hindering their operation.

   Smaller plants go in the front. Try to leave spaces between the plants because fish are territorial, and like to have a little place they can call their own. You can put in a lot of different kinds of ornaments, but they must be non-harmful to your fish. Do a little research before you place anything in your tank. If you prefer, you may purchase aquarium safe ornaments at any aquarium shop.

   If you decide to use all plastic plants to decorate your aquarium, make sure you at least float some live plants at the top. Plants are important to thy ecosystem of the tank. I will go into that later. Foxtail is a common, cheap plant that grows well, and you can even anchor it to the bottom if you wish.

GETTING THINGS GOING

   Now, finish filling the tank to about one inch from the top. Turn on the filter and see that it has started to pump properly. This may take a few seconds. You will hear the motor wine a few times, and then it should quiet right down. The splashing of the water just under the filter will aerate the water fine, but if you wish to install a blower to make bubbles, that will be ok. The bubble pump is actually part of a filtration system, but they are not very efficient. The over the side in conjunction with the under gravel filter will do a great job of keeping your water crystal clear.

   So, now you have an aquarium full of water with the filter going and the water heater on, and you are ready for some fish, right? NO, NOT YET. Now it’s time to get the ecology ready for the fish. First of all, the temperature must be set popularly. The heater has a thermostat, but no thermometer. You can get a free floating thermometer, or you can get a liquid crystal thermometer that sticks to the front of the aquarium on the outside of the glass. These are easier to read because you don’t have to fish around for them, but personally, I trust the old fashioned floating kind more than the external stick on type. In any case, it can take even a couple days to find the right setting on the heater that will provide the ideal temperature for your fish. Just keep checking the temp and tweaking the thermostat. Once it maintains around 76 F, you are in business.

   You also have to let the water filter for at least 24 hours. Let the filters run and keep the water moving. There are all kinds of things in tap water, including chlorine, which is harmful to your fish. This will naturally dissipate over a days’ time. You should also get some chemical drops that will neutralize chlorine. It only takes a few drops, and you will be using it later when you have to maintain your aquarium.

   You must also put in some aquarium salt. Wait, what? I thought this was a fresh water aquarium. Yes, it is, but aquarium salt helps the fish form their protective mucus lining. One teaspoon per gallon is all you need.

   OK, it’s the next day, and you can’t wait to go get some really pretty fish to put in your aquarium. I recommend you don’t do that yet. The ecology is not finished. The best fish you can get to start an aquarium are Goldfish. They are strong, and they produce a lot of waist quickly. This is important to complete the circle of the ecology. Here is how the circle works. The plants intake carbon dioxide produced by the fish, and produce oxygen. When the fish eat, they produce waste, which goes into the filter. Inside the filter is carbon. The carbon collects the bacteria from the waste and sets up a culture. This bacteria produces nutrients for the plants. The fish can also eat the live plants when they can’t find food. So anyway, let the Goldfish dirty up the water for about a week. After that, sell them back to the fish store, and start shopping for some nice tropical fish.

 

 

   When you get to the aquarium store, make sure you talk to someone who knows what they are talking about. Ask the salesperson to give you a tour, and recommend the best kinds of tropical fish to start a new aquarium. Take a look around and see what kind of fish you would like to start with, and then ask the salesman what other kinds of fish are compatible with the one you like. If it turns out you picked a mean fish, look around a little more and repeat the process. It is good to get at least a pair of each fish. They do not have to be male and female necessarily, but ask the salesman about that too. Sometimes it matters.

   As far as compatibility goes, fish are rated from 1 = calm to 10 = mean. You want to try to keep the fish within a range of no more than 3. You can have fish from 5 to 7, or fish from 2 to 5, and so on. Also consider the nature of the fish. Some like to hang around the top of the tank, and others are bottom dwellers, which means that these won’t get in each other’s way. Some are schooling fish, and some fish, like the Swordtail, require two females per male. Some fish are great maintenance fish. Algae eaters can keep your glass and smooth rocks clean. The Plecostomus is a very strong fish, and pretty cool looking. It resembles a prehistoric looking catfish. It has a sucker mouth, and is good for cleaning glass and large rocks, however, over the years they can grow to be quite big. You can always sell them back to the store and get a small one to replace it. Catfish are good for cleaning the bottom gravel. Shrimp are also good for cleaning hard to reach areas. It is best to hold off in getting maintenance fish until the aquarium needs them, so get some other fish first, but keep in mind that in the future, there will be some new tenants in your little square pond.

   The basic rule for population of an aquarium is one fish per gallon. This varies according to the size of the fish. If you get some mini Neon Tetra, they can count as three per gallon. They are a schooling fish, and it’s nice to have three to six of them. They make a nice little splash of color that crosses the tank every once in a while.

   Only get about 3 to 5 fish to start, or any combination that goes with the above guideline. You don’t want to populate your aquarium too quickly. You could lose fish that way. Make sure the fish you buy are healthy. Check that they have no little white spots on them. Make sure they are active. Also, avoid any tank that has dead fish in them. You don’t know how long the dead fish have been in there, and you don’t want to contaminate the water you just set up. Choose some fish from another tank instead. Your fish will be going home with you in little plastic bags filled half with water and half with air. Bring something you can safely carry them in.  If you bring a little Styrofoam cooler, you can place the bagged fish in there and the temperature will maintain till you get the fish in the house.   When you leave the store, it’s time to get home. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Just get the fish home.

INTRODUCING FISH TO THE AQUARIUM

    The biggest mistake that people make when they get their fish home, is they float the bag in the aquarium for a few minutes, and then dump in the fish. All too often, they end up killing their new pets. They can also cause future problems for the whole aquarium when they do this. There are several factors involved with introducing your fish to the aquarium. Naturally, the temperature is important. Too quick of a temperature change on the fish can cause shock. Also, the PH balance of the two waters are probably different, and a sudden change in the PH can also hurt your fish. (PH has to do with the acid or alkaline nature of the tank – the range of scale is 1 – 14, and 7 is neutral. If you wish, you can perchance a PH test kit.) There is also the risk if infecting the tank with the water from the aquarium the fish were in.

 

   The proper procedure is to empty the bag and fish into a CLEAN bowl, then scoop out about a quarter of that water and get rid of it, and replace the amount you removed with some from your new aquarium. Let the fish get used to the new mixture for around 10 minutes, and repeat the procedure two more times. After this, catch the fish in a small net, move it to the aquarium and throw out the mixed water. This may seem like a lot of messing around, especially to begin your aquarium, but when you add more fish later, you will generally only be dealing with a couple new ones at a time.  

 

   Feed your fish. Sprinkle some fish food, just a pinch, into the aquarium and watch them eat. You should only give them enough to eat it all up in around 5 minutes. Once per day is enough. Fish are more healthy and active if they are not full of food.

   When you decide to add more fish later, it is important to remember that fish are territorial, and like to have a part of the tank that they can call their own. When the new fish arrive, it’s time to move things around in the tank. This will disturb the ones that are already there, but only for a little while. Moving things around will give all the fish a chance to find a little spot for themselves. If you do not rearrange, the new fish may never settle in properly.