This freshwater aquarium setup article explains how to set up a simple freshwater fish tank. We'll start with a little list of the gear you'll want and next I'll offer you a step by step manual on setting up your first fish tank.

Equipment you will need: Aquarium

Aquarium gravel

Aquarium filtration system

Replacement filter media

Heater

Additional decoration (such as artificial or genuine plants)

Aquarium test kits to test water parameters along with supervise the infamous aquarium nitrogen cycle

Fish food

Aquarium vacuum

Fish net

Aquarium Glass Scrubber

5-gallon bucket

Pasta strainer

STEP One: Understand the responsibility involved.

Learning how to setup a fish tank is not all that tricky, but there are several methods you ought to stick to. To start with, you have to understand a few things regarding an aquarium setup. A tropical fish tank is just similar to having a dog or a cat when it comes to the amount of effort on your part. In order to obtain a successful freshwater tropical fish tank you will have to work at it. On one occasion a week, otherwise at most on one occasion every two weeks, you will have to to carry out some type of maintenance on the tank. The majority of the time you will be performing water changes. You will also have to give food to your fish at least once a day. Setting up and running a fish tank will cost money. There are frequent costs such as replacing filtration system media, buying food, et cetera.

STEP Two: Make a decision on an aquarium size.

It's a fine idea to have in mind what type of fish you intend to care for before you obtain an aquarium. Various fish simply grow up to be an inch or 2 , whereas other kinds of tropical fish can expand twelve or 13 inches or more in length! Knowing what kind of fish you want will help you elect the size of the tank they will need. If this is your first time with an aquarium, it could be a nice idea to commence with a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium system for right now as well as keep it with a number of smaller and hardier species.

STEP Three: Make your mind up on the aquarium's location.

Place your aquarium in an area where the light and temperature of the tank won't be affected by external sources such as home windows along with heater vents. Sunlight that enters the area through an unshaded window can affect the temperature of your tank. This can as well guide to green algae troubles for your tank down the way. You will aim to set your aquarium on a support that will be able to maintain its total weight. You also want to be certain that the floor is capable to maintain the entire mass of the aquarium and stand. A good rule of thumb for determining the complete heaviness of a filled aquarium is 10 pounds for every gallon of water. For instance, a fifty five gallon container will weigh approximately 550 pounds when full with water!

STEP Four: Obtain your aquarium with equipment.

Now is a good instance to come to a decision on the kind of aquarium filtration system you will want to utilize. You will also want to acquire a heater able of heating the tank size you hold. Get the gravel, plants, a power strip and other decorations. A good rule of thumb for the amount of gravel that you will need is 1 to 1.5 pounds of gravel for every gallon of water.

STEP Five: Setup your aquarium with stand.

Wash out your tank with water only! Do not employ cleaning soap or detergents. Cleaning soap remains left behind will be destructive for your tropical fish. If you are going to make use of an below gravel filtration system (not recommended) now would be the moment in time to set it up as well.

STEP Six: Rinse Gravel, plants and decoration.

Be sure to wash the gravel completely ahead of adding it to your tank. An easy method to complete this is to locate several of the rocks into a pasta strainer and clean them out into your bath tub. Then put the dirt free gravel inside a clean 5-gallon bucket used for transport to the aquarium. After adding the gravel you can position your plants along with decorations.

STEP Seven: Insert water to the aquarium.

To keep away from messing up your gravel as well as plants, you can place a plate or saucer in the center of your aquarium then direct the water flow onto the plate. Utilize room temperature water while filling. To remove the chlorine along with chloramine, utilize something similar to Tetra AquaSafe for Aquariums. Do not totally fill up the aquarium until you are convinced of the arrangement of your decorations. Otherwise, when you put your arm in to shift stuff around water is going to spill over. Doh!

STEP Eight: Set up equipment.

Fix your heater but don't plug it in until the thermostat inside the heater has adjusted to the water temperature. This more often than not requires about fifteen minutes or so. Hook up your filter in addition to any extra gear you have, then top off the aquarium water to just underneath the hood lip. Put your hood and tank light on the aquarium and then verify your power cords to be sure that they are free of water. I would also advise using a drip loop on every one of the power cords to be specially cautious. Plug up all of the equipment into a power strip and then "turn on" the aquarium.

STEP Nine. Wait, wait, hang on and then hang around some more.

I know, you crave to insert several fish. However, in order to accomplish this exactly you should hold your horses until your aquarium has cycled previous to adding any fish. There are ways of speeding up this procedure. If you have got to utilize fish to cycle, attempt to obtain a hardier species similar to the zebra danio or else cherry barb. You might notice your fish tank cycle kicking in gear if you start to obtain some white cloudy aquarium water after a a small number of days.

STEP Ten. Put in tropical fish.

Only insert one or 2 fish at a time. Adding together a pair fish at a time provides your filtration system the stage needed to take on the increased biological load that the fresh fish introduce. When you carry the fish home let the bag float in the tank for about 15 minutes so that the fish can become acclimated to the temperature and pH of the aquarium water. After five minutes of floating the bag you ought to put in some of the aquarium water to the bag so that the fish can become acclimated to the pH concentration in the aquarium. This will assist diminish the amount of anxiety imposed on the fish. Stressed fish repeatedly brings to lifeless or sick fish! Don't nourish your fish on the first day. They almost certainly would not munch any food on the first day anyway. Allow them to get acquainted with their new residence.

STEP Eleven. Get prepared for recurring maintenance.

Be prepared to spend a little time just the once every week or two to cleanse your tank. Performing frequent water adjustments will moderate the nitrate levels as well as keep your tropical fish ecstatic and healthy.