Aqua Articles

By Lee Dobbins

It seems obvious enough, but it is amazing how many aquarium owners don”t realize the importance of the tank water to the health of their fish! The temperature, ph level and number of fish you have can all affect the health of your tank. The only way to ensure the water stays right is to regularly test it with the appropriate testing kits.

Always have a thermometer handy and test the water daily to make sure it is around 24 degrees (this can vary depending on species so be sure to double check). The best thermometers are the ones that stick to the glass so you can confirm the temperature each time you look at the fish tank. If the temperature is out of the correct range, the fish will be much more susceptible to developing illnesses. It is just as important that the tank water maintains a consistent temperature level, so don”t place it near heaters or air conditioners. When you change the water only add water that is the same temperature so the fish aren”t shocked.

The tanks PH level is certainly one of the most important things for you to monitor. You can buy a testing kit for around ten dollars and should test it every few days. You want to see a level of around 6-7; Higher than seven is alkaline, and below seven is acidic. If you ever add anything at all to the water, including more water, you should test again to check the effects. This applies to decorations, rocks, air stones or medicines.

You will also want to test the Ammonia levels regularly, as this is dangerous to the fish if it builds up too much. If the ammonia is too high, the fish will die, so keep the water and filter clean, and again test at least every week so you can nip any problems in the bud before they cause death. The level of nitrite in the water should always be nil, and regular high readings would indicate you need a new filter. Along with your PH test and ammonia test, keep the nitrite testing kit on hand as well, and test weekly or more if an issue arises.

The last tests to do for healthy aquarium water are hardness and carbonate hardness concentration. Everyone has different water hardness and carbonate levels depending on your towns supply, and most fish thrive in softer water. This would be over fifty but less than two hundred parts per million and any higher could mean they will become sick. Carbon hardness is less often a problem, but is just as important to test in case it does get out of hand.

All the above mentioned kits are inexpensive and vital. By closely monitoring the water in your aquarium, you can ensure your fish flourish and live a healthy and happy life in your home. It saves you the money of buying expensive medicines and having to replace fish, not to mention unnecessary guilt wondering if you maybe could have looked after them better!

About The Author

Lee Dobbins writes for Fish Tank Guide where you can learn more about setting up and caring for your fish tank.

By Low Jeremy

Everyone wants a home that is clean and well kept. It will not only bring you sense of relaxation, you will also gain positive feedbacks from every guest who will visit your home.

Just like you, your pet freshwater fish also needs proper shelter. A proper freshwater aquarium will provide not only tranquility to your fish but also nourishment. Moreover, the ones who will view your aquarium will also find complete satisfaction.

Appreciative freshwater aquariums may be obtained with the following suggested and helpful tips:

1. The dwellers. What types of freshwater fishes will you keep for pets? There are numerous types of freshwater fish. You can select from fishes that bears offspring or those who lays egg. It is recommended that you consult a fish specialist regarding this matter.

2. The home. You need to plan and organize for an aquarium tank. How many fish will you be keeping? Are they small or large fishes? Moreover, you need to consider how much water should be stored in the tank. You need to mull over the above-mentioned questions since it will be your determining factor for the type and size of tank to be used.

3. Home decoration. A home without adornment is a dull place to live in. Hence, it is best to decorate your aquarium with water plants, colored pebbles, shells or even underwater figurines.

4. Location of the aquarium. Will your aquarium be situated in the patio or in the living room? You have to consider where your aquarium will be located. Choose an environment that will not be stressful to your pet.

5. Home maintenance. Never will your freshwater aquarium be appreciative if you leave it behind after you have set it up. Learn to maintain it. Here are some ways that will help you in maintaining a clean and healthy home:

a. Feed your pet. By doing so, you will prevent loss of your freshwater fishes.

b. Have a regular cleaning schedule of your tank. Make sure to clean the filter system. Wash the plants and other adornments. Do not forget to change the water when needed.

6. Lighting. You need to check if there is good aquarium lighting. This is important for aquarium plants and the fishes. If your aquarium has poor aquarium lighting, your colorful fish may not be seen properly and it will also cause it to fade and turn the shades to other colors. If you want to have good aquarium lighting, you can choose between fluorescent or incandescent light.

If this is your first time to put up an aquarium, trying out the light may be from trial and error because you need to check if the light matches with the environment of your aquarium. Try to see first whether it is too dark or too light, then you can start adjusting the lights.

If you have too much aquarium lighting, it might cause the water to look green. If you have little light, it might cause to inhibit plant growth. You may choose whether you want artificial light or natural light. You can even make a combination to see which does better in giving light to your aquarium.

If you want the best aquarium lighting, you can place the light facing a window in the north. It is a good way to provide light in this manner because indirect lights are being spread. You can add artificial light to it if you want to. If it is daylight, it will be fine to shut the artificial lights off but when the natural light goes out, you need to let light stand in the aquarium for at least 8 hours.

You can also use light colored bulbs for your aquarium lighting. This will give impact to the nice colors of your fishes and the colors may even be enhanced. If you want your aquarium lighting to give a good effect to your aquarium, use light from behind. This will show the best features of your aquarium and the plant growth will stay healthy too.

Start gathering the best light that you wish to put in your aquarium. After setting up a good lighting, you might never take your eyes of your aquarium. A lot of people will surely notice and appreciate your aquarium because of the aquarium lighting that you have installed.

About The Author

Low Jeremy maintains http://aquarium.articlekeep.com. This content is provided by Low Jeremy. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included.

By Lee Dobbins

A key piece of equipment necessary in every tropical fish tank is the aquarium heater. Tropical fish are used to warm temperatures in many species will not survive unless a heater is president in the aquarium to warm the water up to their native temperatures.

When choosing a heater for your fish tank, it’’s important to get a good reliable unit since fluctuations in temperature can be fatal to fish. You”ll need to about 5 Watts of heater or for each gallon of aquarium water so a 20 gallon aquarium would need a 100 Watt heater. for large aquariums it’’s better to divide up the load and have a heater on each side of the tank so that the water heats up evenly. If you keep your room really cold, you might want a higher wattage heater since it will have to do more work to keep the water temperature between the 75 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit that most tropical fish prefer.

There are two kinds of aquarium heaters to consider, the submersible heaters and the hang on heaters. to hang on heaters are named such because they hang on the side of the tank. The entire heating unit does not go underwater and the controls stick up with the glass part going under the water This is not as efficient or as precise as the fully submersible heater which can be fully submerged under the water. The submersible heater sticks to the side of the tank with section and gives you more precise heating and also the option of hiding it below plants or decorations.

When buying an aquarium heater, you want to also make sure that you have a thermometer either built into the heater a separate so that you”ll know the temperature of your tank. This temperature should always be monitored as if the water is too hot or too cold this can be very detrimental to your tropical fish. If you notice large fluctuations, it could be time to get a new heater. Another thing you might want to consider is having two heaters and keeping one in reserve in case the one you are using breaks. This way your fish will not have to suffer until you can get out to the pet store to get them a new heater.

Since tropical fish are cold-blooded, they cannot maintain a body temperature and must depend on you to heat up their water for them. Making sure you have a good functioning aquarium heater will help keep your fishes environment as close to that which they are used to in nature and reward you with happy healthy fish that look great in your aquarium!

About The Author

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.fish-tank-guide.com we you can learn more about choosing, setting up, and maintaining your aquarium as well as find out about certain accessories like the aquarium heater.

By Jimmy Cox

Fishes are cold blooded vertebrates. This means that they remain at approximately the same temperature as the water surrounding them, in contrast to the whale or the water rat, which like us maintain a much higher temperature. Aquarium fishes share with ourselves and other mammals, however, the possession of a backbone, or vertebral column, and are built on the same fundamental plan, having the same basic system of bones and organs as we do.

Fishes breathe oxygen, but it is usually absorbed only from solution in water by the gills, which are leaf like organs, normally four on each side of the neck in a pouch covered by the operculum, or bony gill cover. The gills are richly supplied with blood vessels, and water is swallowed from the mouth and forced over the gills, leaving by a slit between the operculum and the body. The rate of fishes` respiratory movements is partly determined by the need for oxygen and its concentration in the surrounding water.

Fins

There are two paired and (in all but fancy goldfish and a few other fishes) three unpaired fins. The paired pectoral and pelvic (ventral) fins correspond, respectively, to the arms and legs of human beings and connect with bony girdles in the body which correspond to our own pectoral and pelvic girdles. The unpaired fins are the dorsal, the anal, and the tail or caudal fins, as shown in the accompanying figure. These fins are supported by rays, sometimes bony and sometimes made of cartilage. In some families the dorsal fin is split entirely into two parts, the forepart with spiny rays and the hind part with soft rays. In the characins and some others, there is a small adipose fin, composed of fatty material with no fin rays.

Body

The fish body is composed mainly of a large lateral muscle on each side of the backbone, divided by sheets of connective tissue into segments corresponding to the vertebrae, which give rise to the typical flaking of the cooked fish. This is the main organ for swimming. The internal organs often occupy a very small volume, toward the front, so that much of the apparent trunk of the fish is really its tail (as distinct from the tail fin). This is indicated by the forward position of the beginning of the anal fin, which marks the end of the digestive tract. Fishes possess the usual organs familiar to students of human anatomy, with the exception of lungs and chest cavity; they have a stomach, intestines, a liver, a spleen, kidneys, and so forth.

Skin and Scales. The skin may be naked, or it may be covered by scales or by bony plates which in turn have an outer layer over them. The scales may be opaque or transparent; if they are transparent, the appearance and color of the fish may be due to skin pigments, not to scale color or formation, as in the calico goldfish. Bony plates may be seen in the Corridors, or South American armored catfishes.

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By John Morris

Aquariums have evolved into a very popular hobby, with about millions of aquarium and tropical fish enthusiasts worldwide.

Starting in the 1850s (when the predecessor of the modern aquarium were first being developed as a novel curiosity) the ranks of aquarium keeping has grown as more sophisticated systems including lighting and filtration systems were developed to keep aquarium fish healthy.

However before you can get started in the hobby you must first buy an aquarium. When you get to the pet store or specialized aquarium store you will have lots of aquarium tanks to choose from:

Metal Framework:

Most of the old style aquariums are made with sheets of glass, which are held in a metal framework. This is usually constructed of pieces of angle iron or stainless steel, which are welded together at the corners. Leakage between the glass and metal is prevented by putty aquarium cement, acrylic or silicon sealant.

Battery Jars:

Fish Globes or Bowls: This type of aquarium is useful for emergency purpose, but is not to be recommended as a permanent features. The glasses are cast in one piece and a crack, however small, may suddenly expand and cause a flood. This not only results in a loss of fishes but also necessitates the buying of a new tank, as it is impossible to repair the old one.

Also, when looking through the walls of this type of aquarium, there is distortion, which adversely affects one’’s view of the fishes. Similar disadvantages apply in fish globes or bowls.

Plastics:

With the ever-expanding applications of plastics, it is not surprising that these synthetic that these synthetic products have been used to replace glass for aquarium. Plastics have advantage of being unbreakable, but are soft enough for the surface to become scratched. This is in time will mar transparency.

Vitorlite:

This glass-like material is available in many different colours and some very pleasing effects can be obtained by applying it to the sides to back up the aquarium. Moreover, being opaque Vitorlite will hide the wall and any unsightly wires or other apparatus behind the aquarium.

Wood:

Aquarium frameworks with wood are desirable mainly for aesthetic reasons. The wooden framework however will have to be constructed from plywood to prevent warping.

The advantage of the wood lies in the fact that it can be polished, covered with upholstered rug, stained or coated with colours to harmonize with the furnishing of the room.

About The Author

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://fishtanks.aquariumspot.com

By John Morris

As we all know rivers and lakes are the natural habits for fish and other marine life. Rivers and lakes have large surface area which makes maximum provision of oxygen for fish survival possible. On the other hand an aquarium is not like river or lake, it has a smaller surface area and there is limited movement of habitats.

This makes the provision of alternative means of oxygen for fish to breathe important. This artificial process of providing oxygen is called aeration. It’’s a simple process of re-oxygenating the water in aquarium tank.

The Aquarium Aerating System:

An aquarium aerating aystem made up of a series of materials that increases the supply of air (thereby increasing oxygen concentration) they are:

-the air pump
-t-pieces
-rubber tubing
-clamp or regulator
-diffusers or airstone

Air pumps come in different shapes and sizes but the most popular ones are tecax air pump from Taiwan together with ”dyna free, and the dragon” another popular one is super 555 from India though cheaper, but not as rugged. Occasionally available are the more expensive whisper and rens air pumps from Uk and rance respectively. Always place air pumps above the water level hooked to a non-vibrating material.

You can accomplish aeration in your aquarium tank by using the above listed aeration materials.

For small tanks all you need is to attach a simple aquarium air pump to airstone by means of a rubber air tube. The system will be blowing air into the water which causes motion in aquarium tank and thus provide the necessary oxygen your fish needs to breathe in the aquarium.

Sometimes people complain that the airpumps are too loud. A tricks to keep the air pump quiet is to insulate it’’s vibrations by placing the air pump on a large sponge.

I have even heard of some people who have buried the pump in cat litter with a air tube running to the surface from the air inlet… but you don”t have to go to that extent. A large sponge should do the trick.

About The Author

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://www.aquariumspot.com

By John Morris

Furnishing your aquarium is another important process in aquarium set up after getting the tank. You will need to put in components that will make it looks more beautify and attractive.

How you do this will now depend largely on the type of the habitants that you intend to keep. Regardless below I have outlined in 4 simple steps what needs to be done to create a beautiful aquarium that you will be proud of:

Step 1. Add aquarium gravel

Gravel is essential to your aquarium most especially if you are using natural plants. It will help in holding plant roots and provide the foundation for the biological and under gravel filtration. Since gravel comes in different sizes and colours, the advised size is 4 to 6 millimeters because it provides flow for an undergravel filter and the most popular is quartzite or granite.

Step 2. Add Rocks:

Adding rock is very important to your aquarium as it provide isolated home for territorial fish. Add rocks can upset your aquarium ecosystem thus it’’s advisable that you take measures to prevent this.

Also since you may not know how save rock you want to add is, it’’s very important that you clean them up to remove contaminants.

Step 3. Add Bogwood

This is another essential factor that adds to the beauty of aquarium and it can last long time. Not only that, aquarium habitats need shelter and bogwood provides this. When adding bogwood makes sure that it is well cleaned and it’’s not infected. To be sure that its infection free takes it through process of poly-vanish.

Step 4. Add Plants

Plants also add to the beauty of your aquarium. There are two types of plants - plastic plants and live (natural) plants.

It’’s very easy to use plastic plants because they need little or no maintenance. You just clean them up with clean water and add. On the other hand live plants helps in biological process of aquarium and helping to keep your tank clean and healthy.

About The Author

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://aquariums.aquariumspot.com

By Charles Kassotis

According to one source, more than 60 million people around the world keep aquariums for fun or profit. These can range from a small glass desktop model to a multi-ton commercial design that is part of a museum or water park tour. Most homeowners, however, are looking for a conveniently sized aquarium that will mesh with their lifestyle without causing much extra work or expense. Here are some things to keep in mind when you shop for a home or office aquarium.

1. How much space do you have? The size of aquarium you decide to purchase will be based on the amount of area you can afford to designate to this area. You might have just enough space on a bookshelf for a glass or heavy plastic globe that can be easily cleaned and managed. Or you might want to fill in space behind an office wall with a room-size aquarium. There are table models and stand-alone designs that can fit into a corner or become the center of attention in any room. Keep in mind that along with space considerations, you will need to allocate resources to clean and care for your new aquarium.

2. How much time can you spare? If you love pets and don”t mind caring for your fish, the bigger, the better might be your motto for choosing an aquarium. But if you want a fish tank that can pretty much take care of itself except for those routine cleanings on a weekly or monthly basis, you want may want scale down your plan to purchase a fish bowl that is easy to manage. Keep in mind that you also will need to purchase cleaning supplies and restocking items as part of an ongoing care program for your aquarium.

3. How much does an aquarium mean to you? Do you want to set up an attractive display to incite casual interest, or do you plan to spend time each day watching your fish and other aquarium creatures as a means of enjoyment or relaxation? If the former, choose a basic set-up that will not be difficult to manage. But if the latter, you may want to add colorful sand, shells, pebbles, and plants to make your ecosystem attractive and functional. Your aquarium can become a creative endeavor when you have the time to spend with it.

4. How much help will you get? If you are the main person who will be responsible for checking, cleaning, and maintaining the aquarium, give some thought to your schedule, your priorities, and your reason for having an aquarium. If it will not play much of a role in your daily routine, don”t spend a lot of money for a system that you may not have the means to enjoy.

A fish tank can add pleasure and beauty to your surroundings. Remember that fish and other aquarium creatures need special attention to keep them healthy and thriving. Size your aquarium system accordingly.

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Want to find out more about aquarium care? Visit Aquarium Cart at
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By John Morris

The world as we know it is in balance. Animals breathe in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. Plant absorbs carbon dioxide and give off oxygen as part of there process of photosynthesis. Animals eat plants and animals wastes, feed plants. Water evaporated from the seas and come back to freshen the earth.

The absolute balance of an aquarium world is not usually possible for a beginner. Usually the fish give off more waste matter (both in gas and solids) than the plant life can absorb. And plants almost never provide sufficient food for fish life in an aquarium tank (the things that the aquarium keeper must provide to maintain plant life). But too much encourages the excess growth of algae, causing green water and green-coated tank walls.

Below are the 4 things you as an aquarium keeper must learn to balance:

Food:

It must be a balance of vegetable and animal matter. The reason is that insufficient food stunts the growth and lowers the resistance of fish to disease. On the flip side too much food can also harm the fish by polluting the aquarium.

Size of tank:

The tank must be larger enough to provide space according to the number and size of the fish. It mustalso have sufficient surface so that oxygen can be absorbed to satisfy them.

Temperature:

This poses no problem for us in this part of the world as the range of 24 degree centigrade to 30 obtainable here is most ideal for tropical fish.

Gravel:

One or two inches of sand gravel is all that is required to anchor plants. However be carefull because too much gravel accumulates waste matter that tends to pollute the aquarium.

Master balancing these 4 elements of your aquarium and your tank will look great and your fish will live a long happy life!

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For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://aquariumfish.aquariumspot.com

Setting Up A Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium
By Lee Dobbins

A freshwater tropical fish aquarium can be a wonderfully peaceful and ever-changing decorative item in any room but many people never get to experience them because they simply are afraid that it is too much work to set them up and maintain them properly. But this could not be further from the truth, in fact, an aquarium and can be very easy to set up and maintain if you simply follow two basic rules and those are making sure that tank cycles through its nitrogen cycle probably and never overloading it with tropical fish.

The size of your tropical fish aquarium is also important. If you think you’re going to want to keep a lot of fish you better get a big fish tank. Generally, the larger the tank the easier it will be for you to maintain. The size of your aquarium directly relates to how many tropical fish you can keep in it and the more water you have the more of a chance will have to react and fix your water quality should start to go downhill.

In addition to the aquarium, you will need a heater, lighting, the filtration system, substrate (gravel), and a hood. Sometimes you can find these in kits at the aquarium store. Always try to buy the best that you can afford in if you’re not sure then asked the store clerk and they’ll be a will to explain everything to you.

The first step and setting up your tropical fish aquarium is to wash off all the decorations and the substrate that you be putting in the tank. You can just rinse them off with hot water but if you use soap to be sure to get all the soap off before you put them in the aquarium. Now you are ready to fill up the tank, making sure that it is in its new home and then all the cords can be plugged in and there is a dip in the cord before it reaches the electrical outlet which will ensure that water drips off and not Into your outlet in case of the spill. Make sure all the equipment - the filtering system and heater etc. fit into the tank and that the hood fits tightly on top. Make any cutouts in the hood for equipment that hangs on the side with as little air space as possible.

Fill the aquarium with water that is room temperature and use in aquarium water conditioner. Once it is full, you can do a test run on the filter and heater to make sure everything is working. Now you might be tempted to run right out and buy your first fish, but you must be cautious at this point as you need to cycle your tank in order to get a good bacteria bed growing so that the water will make a nice home for your fish.

Cycling the tank is a critical stage in setting up your freshwater aquarium because this is where the bacteria bed, which filters out the ammonia produced by decaying food fish waste, will be established. if you do not do this step properly, your water will not be at healthy levels to support your fish. during the cycling step, ammonia Is introduced into the tank which causes bacteria to take hold in your substrate and filter. This bacteria will eat the ammonia, making the water quality more hospitable for your freshwater fish but also at the same time it will produce nitrite which is toxic to the fish. Thankfully, at this stage, another bacteria will start to grow which eats the nitrite and releases nitrate. The nitrate is not as harmful and fish tolerate it well and less it gets to very high levels. So, you see, letting your aquarium cycle all the way through to where it is producing nitrate is very important for the water quality and key in setting up your tank properly.

Oddly enough, to get the cycling started you need to put a few freshwater fish in the aquarium. You’ll want to choose very hearty fish (like Zebra Danios) so that they can withstand the harsh water conditions present before the cycling. the waste from the flesh will start to introduce the ammonia into the tank and the cycling process will begin. You want to buy a good test kit so you can test the nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels in the tank which will tell you when the tank is fully cycled and you can add more expensive and prettier fish. your freshwater aquarium will be cycled when the ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero.

Once you have a completed this, you’ve gone through the first step of successful freshwater aquarium keeping and now you only need to perform regular maintenance and not over load your tank in order to keep the fish tank looking great in your tropical fish healthy.

When adding fish, you want to be sure not to add too many at once or you will upset the delicate balance of water quality in the tank. Try buying one new tropical fish a week until you have as many fish as your aquarium will hold. For best water quality, you want to stick to about 1 inch of fish per gallon of water so a 20 gallon tank could hold about 20 inches of fish which would be probably around 15 fish depending on how big they are.

The maintenance of your tropical fish aquarium should be easy if you stick to a schedule. Obviously, you should be looking at the fish daily to see that they are in good health and you want to be sure that the filter is in heaters are functioning properly. Then once a week, you should try to scrape off any algae that is accumulated. Once a month you should do a partial water change changing out about 25% of the water and adding new water at room temperature with water conditioner in it.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.fish-tank-guide.com we you can learn more about choosing, setting up, and maintaining your tropical fish aquarium.

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