How to set up an aquarium? Advice for beginners

Having your own fish is every child’s dream. This idea is easy to realize with a little commitment. Find out how to set up an aquarium!

Fish are usually the first animals of our children, which they learn to take care of. It is enough to spend little money and our living room will be decorated with an aquarium with beautiful creatures. However, it’s worth learning how to set up an aquarium, what to avoid and which fish to buy!

Setting up an aquarium step by step

First of all, it’s worth taking care of an appropriately large vessel that will accommodate the animals. Buy those made of good materials, resistant to mechanical factors such as impacts or scratches. Both the size and the shape of the aquarium are important. A good tank height is half a meter. This is optimal for keeping many species and does not obstruct the light source.

When choosing the length of the aquarium, primarily consider the free space in the apartment. A rectangular shape with a length of one meter is best. Do away with round vessels, which inevitably provoke the fish to swim in a circle, which translates into their bad mood and vagus problems. It will be difficult for you to maintain cleanliness and biological balance in a small tank.

Technical aquarium equipment

An aquarium is a simulation of the natural environment in which fish live. Try to reproduce it faithfully so that the animals feel comfortable in their new environment.

1. The lighting should be close to natural conditions. Most aquarium animals should have 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness in order to get as close as possible to intertropical conditions. T5 or T8 fluorescent tubes with a color temperature of 6000K-6500K will work well in the beginning. If you grow larger, use LED or PLANT lamps with blue and red light to stimulate growth.
2. The water temperature of your animals should respond to the needs of the fish. Keep track of whether you need to heat the water or cool it down. You can find a thermometer in any specialized store for up to a dozen zlotys.
3. A filter is another indispensable piece of equipment. It will provide you with clean water and proper conditions for the animals. Adjust the filter to the amount of water in the tank. Larger aquariums are best equipped with an external filter of 400 l/h capacity.
4. An aerator is a component that supplies the aquarium with oxygen. If you decide to purchase a more expensive aquarium, the aerator should be included

Aquarium decoration

Decorations are not only an aesthetic element intended to please the human eye. The animals will feel as if they are in their natural habitat due to the appropriate space arrangement in the tank. Take care of a suitable mineral substrate that will be a great basis for placing plants

Tall plants will do well in the corner of the vessel and will hide equipment such as a thermometer or aerator. The most popular aquarium plants are frogfishes or zwartek. They will clean the water, oxygenate it, and improve the overall appearance of the tank

If you decide on decorations such as castles or fish tunnels, pay special attention that they do not contain sharp edges.

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