Aquarium And Fish Maintenance – Simple Guide For Beginners

Monday, March 15th, 2010

When you are sure to shop for a fish aquarium, you must know the right equipments and accessories that would enhance the longevity and health of your fishes and aquarium.
These accessories include:
1. Heaters
2. Buffers
3. Filters
4. Gravel
5. Floss
6. Food, etc.
In order to ensure the hygiene of your fishes, you must also know all the tips and techniques to keep the aquarium clean and the fish healthy.
The experts always advice you to research well before purchasing the fish and the aquarium. Here are some useful tips that would help you take good care of your fishes and the aquarium:
1. Some essentials for the aquarium include the following:
1. Ornaments – Decorations to add beauty and to give playful spots to your fishes.
2. Plants – You can choose from live and synthetic plants. Though live plants need lot of care they perform several functions for the benefit of your fishes.
3. Gravel – Gravel forms the base of the aquarium. The depth of this layer is defined by several factors like the plants you place in, the number of fishes you add to the aquarium, etc.
4. Test Kits – This is helpful in testing the water of the aquarium at regular intervals.
5. Water Treatment – These systems are available in various techniques and is quite essential to maintain the purity of the water, else the ever growing bacteria and ammonia in the water would kill your fish unexpectedly.
6. Food – Like all living beings fishes need food, so you must have a good supply of food for your fishes. Make sure to read the contents of the food you purchase for the fishes and supply it to the fishes as per the instructions mentioned of the details you receive with the fishes.
7. Heater Accessories – In order o maintain the temperature of the water in the tank, you would need to plant a heater in the fish tank. This is a must buy in case you are considering to keep some tropical fishes. While purchasing the heater you must take care that the heater’s size fits in to the fish tank. It must not take a lot of space, else it would make your fish uneasy in the tank. Also check that there are various types of heaters in the market, you must know which one suits the best to your requisite.
Some points to remember about maintaining the fishes and the aquarium are as follows:
1. Gravel maintains the natural resources in the aquarium. You can also consider adding some decorative ornaments in the aquarium.
2. Adding live plants t the aquarium makes your fish lively and more playful.
3. In case you are fortunate enough the fish might lay eggs in real plants, they do not do so in the synthetic ones.
4. Make sure to offer the right amount of food to the fishes. The remaining food settles down in the gravel and generates harmful bacteria.
5. Most oft you would use tap water to fill in the tank and that contains lot of bacteria and germs, so water treatment is very essential.
6. Choose your water test kit with lot of care as it must be very effective and should give most accurate results.
Here follows the procedure of making the aquarium:
1. First of all fill a bucket of water and rinse the gravel washing of the dirt, grime and germs.
2. Then add water to your tank, once the gravel is purified.
3. Further add half of the water actually required for the tank.
4. Next add the ornaments & plants to your aquarium.
5. This makes the job of additives completed for the aquarium.
6. Now finally add the tank with the water in full quantity required.
7. Now use the manual that you have received with your tank. Follow the outlines mentioned in this manual to fill your tank properly.
8. Next move to placing the heater & filtration systems in the tank.
9. In order to fit in the heater and filters safely and properly, follow the instructions mentioned in the manual you have received with these equipments.
10. Finally you add the water treatment system to the tank. This purifies the harmful chemicals form the water like metal, copper, metal and other related elements.
11. Now before adding the fish to the tank either make use of the specialized products that enable you doing that safely, else we recommended you to wait atleast a few weeks prior to adding life to your tank.
12. A tank filled with water has some natural bacteria that produce naturally. These bacteria must be filtered out of the water so as to keep your fish healthy and safe. So once the water in aquarium is settled, use your test kit to check if the water is perfectly clean or not, it must also be checked that the water has the right temperature and all the chemicals in it are balanced.
13. Now after the final verification of the water in the tank, add your fish in small quantities.
14. It is always advisable to keep passive fish in the aquarium rather than the aggressive ones. Some common passive fishes most advisable for the starters are goldfish, otocinclus, plecostemas, etc. These not only are easy to maintain but also keep the aquarium clean.

Abhishek is an avid Fish Lover and he has got some great Aquarium Care Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 105 Pages Ebook, “Aquarium Care Made Easy!” from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/636/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Aquarium Reefs – 12 Simple Tips To Grow The Perfect Reef

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Nature has given us varied beautiful seasonal differentiations to enjoy that are from white snow tipped mountains to lush green lands. When it comes to the water, there is a whole new world to search. The water creatures can be phenomenally beautiful and beyond our imagination. Similarly, the water plants are all unique attractive.
The constant studies and research has proved that no two coral reefs are alike. These reefs are all one of its kind amazingly attractive and all those who see them want to get them home with themselves.
This can be done with some effort and lot of creativity but the fact remains that there is no pre-defined formula to grow these at home.
Creating that picturesque salt water aquarium you have to choose from various costly and average priced ornaments. The whole game at the end is about striking the right balance between imaginations, frugality, aesthetics, ecological balance and the financial aspects.
Here are some points you must know in order to grow one of these reefs at your home aquarium:
1. The size of the aquarium must be well planned and apt for your fishes to live healthy.
2. Fishes need lot of place to swim and play. Also if there are varied breeds of fishes living in the same aquarium, they would need some extra space to co-exist healthily.
3. While choosing your fish you must be careful to keep only the compatible breeds together in one aquarium, else it would land up in to a disaster.
4. To set up an ideal eco-system in the fish tank with all natural resources in tact, 175 gallon tank is the minimum you must consider.
5. While preparing a picture perfect reef in your home aquarium you are now lucky that you can find pre-drilled aquariums in the market. You just have to shell out some extra money that you pay as an advance for to the store form where you are purchasing the aquarium. This helps you get a very clean look rather than that traditional hang on the back overflowing tanks.
6. You have a bulk of choices to choose from when decorating your aquarium with a natural reef. The experts advise that as much as possible you should stick to organic decorations. This would ensure the health of your fishes, the plants and a surely maintained ecological balance in the aquarium.
7. Live rock is a great decoration for your saltwater aquarium. This adds an aesthetic feel to the aquarium and helps you formulate the aquarium’s ecosystem as it is a vital part of the aquatic life. A live rock is covered with several micro and macro organisms. These organisms filter all the waste products from of the water, thereby making that water safe for the aquatic inhabitants.
8. Live plants are another beautiful addition for the saltwater aquariums. These are functional as well as they provide for a lot many facilities in the water. Live plants oxygenate the water in the tank. These provide a hide out for your fishes making them more playful. They not only beautify the fish tank but also purify the water in the tank by absorbing the chemicals & providing oxygen. The water plants break down water and ammonia. Then these plants filter the ammonia & the bad or contaminated pat of the water that is the portion that contains bacteria. Plants maintain the balance between all the chemicals in the fish tank as the fishes produce lot of ammonia.
9. Corals are also great beautifiers for your perfect reef aquarium.
10. The experts always advise that prior to making purchases and decisions regarding your fish tank, you must first choose and finalize the breed and type of fish that you would purchase. This would help you make rather appropriate and correct purchases for the aquarium, for instance some fishes like some particular plants that you would be able to decide on the basis of the breed you have decided to buy.
11. The depth of the bottom layer of the aquarium that comprises of silt, sand, and/or gravel must be of an adequate depth so as to allow the roots of the plants to seep in well. While this depth majorly depends on the type of plant you are placing in there, approximately 8 cm is the usual depth required for most of the plants.
12. Like all aquariums and you must light your salt water aquarium at least in the first half of the day as your plants and fishes need a perfect cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The plants need carbon dioxide to live that they can generate through photosynthesis and this can happen only with the right lighting in the aquarium. You might also consider planting an artificial carbon dioxide producing gadget in the fish tank.

Abhishek is an avid Fish Lover and he has got some great Aquarium Care Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 105 Pages Ebook, “Aquarium Care Made Easy!” from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/636/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.