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Setting Up A Tank For Dummies by Grant Gussie
Your first tank arrives home, possibly with a bag of fish, possibly not. Possibly with a kit-type collection of assorted lights, heaters, and filters, possibly not. What are you going to do with it all? This article is intended to provide you with instructions for setting up your first tank. I assume you want your new tank to be something to admire, and that the typical "starter kit" aquarium complete with bubbling plastic skeleton is not going to cut it. Instead, this approach will give you a showpiece aquarium; one that will be an attractive feature in a semi-formal living room rather than an eyesore in the family rumpus room. As such, it will be naturally aquascaped with hardy, attractive, and (most of all) living plants, and be supplied with a nice collection of attractive, peaceful fishes.
There are plenty of different ways to set up such a tank, and you will get other advice from other club members, but the method I will describe is reliable.
Well, first off, I hope you haven't got a bag of fish yet. You need a couple of day's preparation before you're ready for that. Here's also hoping that you got some good advice when you purchased your equipment on what to buy. If you purchased at a department store or a non-aquarium specialty stores, you may have been sold whatever that particular store wants to unload. You may therefore have to make another trip to the store to get some decent equipment; and I would highly recommend one of the local aquarium specialty stores (Riverfront, Pisces, etc.) over Walmart. Before setting up your aquarium, this is what you should purchase:
1) A tank (obviously enough). It should be of all-glass construction and should ideally be in the 25 to 50 gallon capacity range. Anything smaller does not provide enough capacity to provide a stable environment in the hands of a beginner, and is really too small for an effective living room display anyway. Anything larger is more expensive than what you are likely to want to spend on your first aquarium. However, you should be aware that four-foot fluorescent bulbs are considerably cheaper than the three-foot variety. Therefore, even though a four-foot tank is more expensive to buy than a three-foot tank, it is less expensive to light and (as discussed below) lights are a primary expense. You should therefore seriously consider getting a four-foot tank; the final expenditure will not be a great deal more after the cost of bulbs and light fixtures are added in. A tank that measures 48"x12"x18 is very nice in this regard, but the smaller 36"x12"x18" size is more widely available and certainly does make for a nice display tank too.
2) An adequate light and hood assembly. This is the hardest item to find and possibly the most expensive item as well. The only hoods that are readily available for aquaria at a reasonable cost are those plastic aquarium hoods with the single fluorescent tube or a 20-watt incandescent fixture. They do not produce enough light for plants. At the very least, you need two full-length fluorescent tubes for a tank with plants, and even this will allow you to only keep a few shade-tolerant plant species. Most club members build their own multi-tube hoods using fluorescent shop fixtures. If you are handy with tools, this is highly recommended. Otherwise I would recommend getting at least two strip lights and a sliding glass aquarium cover. The aquarium cover is readily available at good aquarium stores but the strip lights may require a trip to Home Depot or Revy. Get full-spectrum fluorescent bulbs for your fixture. I would recommend the Philips Ultralume bulb as being an inexpensive and high-quality full-spectrum light. They are available in building supply depots with lighting departments, like Totem, Revy, Home Depot, etc. Other full spectrum bulbs (such as Vitalite) are also available in pet shops, but at a much higher cost. One of those pinkish-looking plant grow-lights is OK among the full-spectrum bulbs, but I would recommend that no more than half the bulbs above the tank be of this variety. I would not recommend those cheap warm-white or cool-white fluorescent bulbs; although inexpensive, they produce comparatively little light that is usable by plants. Neither would I recommend that a beginner use incandescent, halogen, or metal halide lighting. These lights have their place (I use all three myself) but they require special arrangements to deal with the heat they produce.
3) A heater. Any of the submersible or semi-submersible aquarium heaters are fine, but don't get the cheapest one available. Reliability is important here. You will want a heater rated for 100 watts to 150 watts.
4) A biological filter. However, I wouldn't recommend an undergravel filter for this tank. They are OK, but their drawbacks out-weigh their good points. They are difficult to maintain in the long term, require their own air or water pump, and should only be run in a tank with a separate mechanical filter. The need for a separate power supply for the undergravel filter plus another separate mechanical filter adds both cost and complexity to the tank. A single motorized biological filter unit that integrates both biological and mechanical filtration is simpler, less expensive, and much easier to keep clean than an undergravel filter. Mechanical biological filters are relatively new on the market, but are now widely available. They can either hang on the back of the tank, or be a canister. Most cost effective is a hanging filter. These come equipped with a supplementary biological filter module such as a biowheel (a waterwheel-like attachment) or a drip plate. Your filter should have a flow sufficient to turn over the tank’s volume about three times per hour. So a 33-gallon tanks needs a 100 gph filter. The real-world flow rate will be about 75% of the rated flow listed by the manufacturer.
5) A separate mechanical filter if an undergravel filter is being used. If a power biological filter is used, these are unnecessary since the power filter will have its own mechanical filtration module.
6) An air pump or water pump, but again only if an undergravel filter is used. A power filter comes with its own motor.
7) Fine gravel or coarse sand. The darker the colour the better. Get at least a couple of inches worth. That's about one pound of gravel per gallon of tank capacity. A little more is better. If you wish, a cup or two of a substrate additive like laterite or earthworm castings can be mixed with the bottom third of the sand. Feel free to leave this step out however, as this is an advanced technique which I would hesitate to recommend to a beginner. Not only do you run the risk of the sand going anaerobic, substrate additives make for a real mess when you finally tear down the tank. Do not use a substrate additive if you plan to have only a few plants.
8) A very solid stand. Your finished tank will weigh over 10 pounds per gallon of capacity. Remember that.
9) Rocks or driftwood for decoration and the security of the fish.
10) A scraper to clean algae off the glass. Both the magnetic pad kind and a razor blade scraper should be acquired.
11) At least one nice soft net. Both a big "trapping" net and a smaller "herding" net are good to own.
12) A good thermometer. Make sure you examine all the thermometers in the store and find one that is reading the same as the other ones. The liquid-crystal stick-on thermometers are good, but can't be moved once in place.
But what you don't need yet is livestock (fish and plants).
Now, to set everything up, first wash the gravel and rocks in water only (no cleansers) and rinse out the tank as well. Pour in the gravel and then the rocks. Hang the heater, thermometer, and filter on the back of the tank, but don't plug them in yet. Fill the tank slowly with cold or lukewarm water, trying not to blow the gravel around, while watching for leaks and making sure your stand is holding up to the weight. After the temperature of the water equals the room temperature, plug in the heater and adjust it so its indicator light just comes on. Plug the filter in too. Allow a few hours for the temperature to settle and adjust the heater if necessary. You want a temperature to stabilize at about 25C. It will likely be the next day before you can set a stable tank temperature.
Now, after things have been running and have been stable for another day or so (no sooner), buy some plants. I would definitely include the two plant species Cryptocoryne affinis and Java fern (Microsorium pteropus) because they are very easy to grow. Plant the C. affinis as you would any terrestrial plant, but tie the Java fern to your driftwood with some black thread. Do not bury the Java fern`s roots. You can buy these species in all good aquarium stores, or club members can always be found that have some to spare. If you have at least two full-length fluorescent bulbs (as you should have) you can also include some Vallisneria, since these plants are also hardy and easy to keep, but they do require a good deal of light. There are many other species of plants suitable for the beginner, but be careful if you don't know which ones are suitable. Make sure that the plants you chose are actually aquatic plants, not terrestrial plants that were stuck under water by unknowledgeable or unscrupulous storeowners. If in doubt about a plant species, ask another club member for advice, or take one of the plant books out of the library to help your identification. Make sure you spend enough money on plants that you get a good number (club auctions are really good for getting plants in bulk). One Cryptocoryne affinis or Vallisneria plant per gallon of water and a good handful of Java fern makes for a good first planting. But don't be discouraged if your plants die back immediately after planting; they will grow back. Cryptocoryne affinis is notorious for doing just that. Vallisneria is also known for languishing for a few months after planting, before starting to grow with abandon. Give your plants the time they need to get established.
After the plants are planted and the tank has sat with its filter running for a few days, you can add the first few fish; but only a very few (no more than three). Make sure that these first fish are not territorial, because if they are, they will stake their claims before the other fish get into the tank and attempt to drive off the new-comers when they arrive. Corydoras catfish make good first residents. You must now be patient. The purpose of adding these first few fish is to provide a source of ammonia to mature your biological filter. The biological filter requires time to grow a good culture of bacteria that will oxidize fish ammonia and change it into non-toxic nitrate. This generally takes at least a month; so give it six weeks to be sure. After the six weeks are up, you can populate the tank relatively safely. But don't add too many fish. You want a show tank, and a heavy fish population will only result in algae, dirty water, and maintenance problems. A relatively few fish swimming among healthy plants is much more attractive than a lot of fish in an algae-covered tank. The rule of thumb of "one inch of fish per gallon" is a good one, as long as you are talking about slim fish no longer than three or four inches in total length. Next month, I will discuss suitable selections of fish for the first-time aquarist.
Don't bother with chemical filtration in your filter box, such as activated carbon. With proper tank maintenance, carbon is not necessary. Also, don't be overly concerned about buying lots of test kits. The pH of Calgary's water is stuck on 8.2 and it's well-buffered and stable enough that (with proper tank maintenance) your tank pH will never be significantly different than that of the water that comes out of the tap. Therefore, as long as you follow proper set up and maintenance guidelines, there is little point in testing your tank pH. You may want to buy an ammonia test kit, but if you set up the aquarium correctly and allow enough time for the biological filter to mature, you won't have any ammonia to test anyway. And don't worry about getting any fish medications, tonics, or other such garbage. If anyone has ever saved a fish with over-the-counter antibiotics I have yet to meet him. It is much better to simply set up and maintain the tank properly, and you just won't see any disease.
However, do be concerned with getting high quality fish food. Good flake food is adequate for the fish I will describe next month, and the Aquarian and Tetra brands are especially good, as are many others. Good aquarium stores will only sell good foods, but department stores may sell poor quality flakes. In addition, some freeze-dried foods such as krill, ocean plankton, and mosquito larvae are also good dietary supplements. Commercial frozen foods are also good, but much more expensive. If you want to get more involved in the hobby, home made frozen foods are inexpensive and fun to make, and recipes can be found readily in The Calquarium’s back issues. And if you find yourself becoming a budding fish fanatic, you can collect live insect larvae and crustaceans from country ditches and ponds during the spring. These bug-hunting expeditions can be a lot of fun. When feeding your fish, feed them lightly. Heavy feedings will result in rapid fish growth and lots of spawning activity, but will also considerably increase the amount of waste and algae growing in the aquarium. Since this is a display tank, not a breeding tank, feed only a little and you will have a much nicer tank. Feeding as much as your fish will eat in five minutes, twice a day, is more than plenty. And don't be concerned about missing a few feedings either. Your fish are fine without food for as much as a week. If you are going to be away for longer than that, make arrangement for a very light feeding every other day. Under no circumstances should you ever use those Plaster-of-Paris "weekend feeding blocks". The food particles in them are so small that no adult fish can eat them, and the blocks harden water as they dissolve. They are useless wastes of money and inedible sources of pollution.
You should seriously consider feeding your plants. Iron and manganese fertilization is necessary in Calgary's water, since our water (sourced from the Rocky Mountain run-off) is deficient in trace metals. There are lots of commercial fertilizer mixes that are just fine. However, I would only add fertilizer with a water change unless you purchase an iron test kit. If you regularly add fertilizer without monitoring the levels or first removing some water, you can get a toxic build-up of iron over time. So if the instructions on the fertilizer bottle are to add one drop of solution per gallon, and you change five gallons of water, just put five drops in the tank after the water change. Repeat this the next time you change water. Don't add any more than this unless you monitor the iron levels with a test kit. Remember that plants actually need very little iron. And don't use fertilizers that contain any phosphates or nitrates. Also, don’t concern yourself with CO2 fertilization. This is an advanced technique, and (although it’s sort of fun to monkey around with the gear) CO2 fertilization is not necessary for a healthy tank.
As for changing water, that is a very important part of weekly maintenance. I would recommend changing 25% weekly. This is a bit of a chore unless you have either a Python water changer or one of its competitors. These devices take almost all the drudgery of tank ownership and are well worth the money. Clean the glass with your algae scraper as well. Also clean the mechanical filtration module of your filter weekly, but leave the biological filter module for only twice-yearly cleaning. Even then only rinse the biological filter medium in old tank water. You can expect to devote 1/2 hour of maintenance to your tank weekly, but again, don’t stress out about missing the odd week’s maintenance schedule.
When changing water, make sure that the temperature is as close as possible to that of the tank, and add some dechlorinator as well. Dechlorinators, despite contrary opinion, are not strictly necessary in Calgary (I never use them) but are good insurance for smaller fish. If you use a dechlorinator, feel free to add water straight out of the tap through your Python (or other) water changer (just add the dechlorinator to the tank before refilling). Make sure however that the replacement water is well aerated during refilling in order to release any excessive dissolved gas. The Python is designed to aerate water during refilling and so will release dissolved gas nicely. Most good aquarium stores in town sell the Python and a seemingly identical (except that it’s blue) competitive product is also available for a little less money.
With light feedings, low fish densities, lots of light, and regular maintenance, you can easily set up a thriving, beautiful tank. But you will still have some algae, and algae-eating fishes are a good idea. I'll discuss these and other fishes for your new tank next month.?
10% off this product until August 31st 2008! (Discount applied at Check-Out)
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Pat's Basic Guide to a Successful Freshwater Aquarium by Pat Bridges
Pat edited "The Scat" - newsletter of the St. Catherine's Aquarium Society, Canada, for 9 years Aquarticles
Read these notes and maintain a healthy, problem-free aquarium. You won't encounter the usual problems that occur and you won't be among those who ask "Why did my fish die?"
Assuming you have acquired a tank that doesn't leak and have installed an adequate form of filtration, a heater (necessary for most tropical fish), a cover (preferably containing a source of light) and have added water, your tank is now starting the process of becoming 'balanced'. This will happen and takes several weeks, at the end of which the 'good bacteria', necessary to support life in your aquarium will reign supreme! This process can be speeded up by immediately adding a) half a dozen small fish (see below) that will produce waste to feed the bacteria, and feeding the fish lightly once or twice a day b) some water from an already set up, healthy aquarium, which already contains good bacteria c) some gravel from an already set up, healthy aquarium, which already contains good bacteria or d) adding an amount of a product specifically designed for this purpose, sold at your local aquarium store. If you want to know more about this 'cycle' of the aquarium there are many books available on starting a new aquarium that will explain it in detail. For now, suffice it to say that this cycle will happen and unless care is taken, disaster occurs. Your aquarium may develop a new tank bloom (fogginess in the water) while this cycle is occuring. It will clear.
During this time and as always, regular care and maintenance is IMPERATIVE if you want your fish to live long and healthy lives.
Make sure all equipment used for your aquarium is used only for your aquarium.
Fish may be put into your aquarium as soon as the water clears from setting up the aquarium and you are sure that all the equipment is working properly. As stated above, the fish will start that 'good bacteria' in the aquarium that is vital. Too many fish in your aquarium now, may result in losses. More fish may be added in a few weeks. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you add any more fish until then and even then, add them a couple (if small schooling fish, add four or five) at a time over a period of a month or so. Try to choose hardy, easily maintained fish to start with. Some good choices are Danios, (they like to swim in schools), Platies and/or Swordtails, (lots of brilliant colours are available) and two or three Cory Cats to patrol the bottom. If you are obtaining your fish from someone who is knowledgeable and reputable tell them about your setup, including the size of your tank, and ask for their advice.
Change approximately one-quarter of the water in the tank weekly, making sure that the dirt in the bottom of the aquarium is disturbed and sucked out with your syphon. The replacement water must be very close in temperature to the water that you removed and ABSOLUTELY MUST BE DECHLORINATED WATER. THIS WILL AVOID ANY POSSIBILITY OF GILL DAMAGE. Also, if you buy the dechlorinating solution, it usually has other 'stuff' in it to reduce stress and maintain the slime coat.
Continue regular maintenance, once a week. It should take no more than 15 minutes.
Keep an eye on the temperature from time to time. A drop in temperature will encourage stress-related diseases, e.g.: 'Ich' and enough of a rise in temperature would cook the fish and the good bacteria, resulting in the loss of your efforts.
When changing water, the best advice is to unplug your heater and power filter. Failure to unplug your heater and possibly exposing it to the air could result in cracking of the heater glass. The important thing here, is to remember to plug everything back in after!
Keep the glass clean, both inside and out. This can be done with a razor blade type of scraper, or bunched up white paper towels. Keeping the glass clean is necessary for aesthetic reasons, obviously, but also so that you can quickly notice any changes in the behavior of your fish that will alert you to the fact that something might be amiss.
If you are using a power or box filter, ALWAYS leave half of the dirty filter floss (if that's what you are using) in the filter, leaving some of those 'good bacteria' to continue their valuable work. (Change your filter floss when it is really dirty and/or the flow rate from the filter has slowed down noticeably). Rinse out the sponge in the power filter, if you are using one, under TEPID water - never hot. Using hot water will completely destroy the good bacteria that you are striving to establish and maintain. Charcoal, if used, can be rinsed each week--tepid water again. Replace at least once a month. In between times, when it looks really dirty, it is o.k. to rinse it under the tap - TEPID water again.
AFTER THE INITIAL PHASE IS OVER, maintain a regular schedule as always, keeping in mind a few important things that will ensure a healthy aquarium:
1. It is inadvisable to add store-bought fish to your aquarium unless you can quarantine* them for at least three weeks. Some people may laugh at this because they've never had a problem. However, it takes one unhealthy fish to wipe out your entire population and it does happen. Unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure of your source, PLAY IT SAFE. If you do have a quarantine tank, maintain the same schedule of care as your main tank so that when the time comes to put your fish into the main tank, the water will match and there won't be any shock involved (either to you or the fish)!
2. When you quarantine, it is essential that you wash ALL aquarium equipment under hot water after any use. Otherwise you run the risk of transferring disease. NEVER USE HOUSEHOLD SOAP when washing aquariums and related equipment. Salt can be used as an abrasive/cleaner or a very dilute bleach solution can be used when cleaning equipment. Always rinse well afterward.
3. When obtaining fish from ANY SOURCE, never put the water that they came in into your tank. Pour the fish and water into a net and put only the fish into your aquarium.
4. When bringing new, healthy fish to your aquarium, check to see if the temperature in the container and the tank is close. A degree or so fluctuation is not harmful. You may opt to float your container of fish in the tank for a few minutes for the temperatures to equalize.
PLANTS: If you use plastic plants, wash them when dirt and/or algae are visible. Live plants can be added shortly after your initial aquarium 'cycle' has finished but once again, unless you are sure of your source, you might be adding disease, snails or other unwelcome guests, unless precautions are taken. If you either don't care, or can't be bothered, plastic plants are for you. If you do care, a brief live plant sterilization*** can be used although this doesn't always get rid of snail eggs. So, sometimes, even though you are careful with new additions, snails may appear in your aquarium. Then the best you can do is to take them out as you see them.
LIGHTS: If you have live plants in your aquarium, they won't survive unless they have enough light. This usually means at least 10 hours per day. A timer is invaluable for this. (A timer is only usable on lights that are 'quick start' or incandescent). They are inexpensive and a must if you ever spend a day or two, or more, away from home. Be sure to plug only your lights into the timer. The heater must be on all the time during the cooler weather and the filtration must be non-stop all the time. If you have only plastic plants, then the length of the aquarium 'day' will be up to you. Try to keep the 'day' uninterrupted if possible. If the aquarium is in an otherwise dark room, the on and off of lights is stressful for the fish. Keep in mind that incandescent lights produce more heat than fluorescent lights. During hotter weather, this might be a problem.
Keeping the temperature between 75 and 78F should work well for most tropical fish.
So - minimal care of the right kind can keep your aquarium in top shape. Your aquarium should be good for many years of uninterrupted enjoyment.
Anytime you are away from home for a day or more: don't overfeed your fish just before you leave. Food they can't eat will rot, grow fungus and smell. Your adult fish will be o.k. for a weekend, even a week, without feeding. If you are going to be away longer and someone else feeds your fish, TELL THEM TO FEED ONCE EVERY OTHER DAY, while you are away and ONLY SMALL FEEDINGS****. SHOW THEM HOW SMALL! More tanks have gone bad due to overfeeding by well-meaning fish-sitters! Your fish will survive longer unfed, while you are away, than they will if they are overfed.
Smell: your aquarium will never smell - unless you have overfed or a fish has died. Eyeball your aquarium for dead fish or other problems, once a day - before lights out is a good time.
Algae: sometimes, due to a number of circumstances, algae will become a nuisance. Regular maintenance will get it off the plastic plants and interior of the glass, but if its growth becomes rapid and unsightly between weekly cleanings, too much light might be the problem, so reduce the duration of your light period slightly. Keep in mind that if your aquarium is near a window, algae will grow more rapidly even if there is decorative paper on the back of the tank. Plants are attractive and if algae continues to be a problem, adding more live plants might also help.
Quite often no matter how many helpful hints are listed, there are more questions, so don't forget, call a more experienced aquarist if you need help!
Winter is a time when some real emergencies can happen due to power outages. This doesn't happen often, but if it does, the aquarium will be fine for a couple of hours, as long as it isn't overpopulated. If it's any longer and if the temperature starts to drop, do a small (dechlorinated) water change using slightly warmer water for as long as warm water is available. This will be necessary every two or three hours thereafter while the power is off. Wrapping the tank with a blanket or taping styrofoam pieces on all four sides could be done to reduce heat loss for an extended period of time, but the water would still have to be changed every few hours due to lack of filtration and oxygen.
When the power is back on, uncover the tank and check to see that everything is working and the fish are o.k.
TO CALCULATE THE SIZE OF YOUR AQUARIUM (in U.S. gallons):
Width x height x depth (inches) ÷231 = gallons. (For example 12 in. X 12 in. X 24 in. = 3456 cubic inches. 3456/231 = 14.96 (15 gallons)
TO CALCULATE APPROX. HOW MANY INCHES OF FISH YOUR AQUARIUM CAN SAFELY HOUSE:
Width x length divided by 30 equals inches of fish. (For example 12 in. X 24 in. = 288 square inches (of water surface). 288/30 = 9.6 (inches of fish) This is a very rough guide. You could have considerably more than this if the fish are tiny, such as Neon tetras but perhaps less if the fish is large and full bodied such as an Oscar.
TO CONVERT degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius:
Subtract 32 from the number of degrees F. and divide the result by 1.8. (For example 80° F is 80 - 32 = 48. 48/1.8 =26.7° C )
! Patience is important when you start up an aquarium. It always pays off.
* Quarantining: Use a small heated and filtered tank, with a lid. (Use a **'dirty' filter.) Take some of the floss from a filter that is in use, put it with some fresh floss in the filter in the quarantine tank. At least this will guarantee that your fish won't suffer as much stress from the tank going through the 'cycle'. The dirty floss already has some of those precious 'good bacteria' in it.
***Sterilization of live plants: Use a tablespoon of Alum (available in any drug store) dissolved in a gallon of tepid, dechlorinated water, for five minutes ONLY! Remove from the alum solution and rinse in some clean, tepid, dechlorinated water. (Repeat this treatment several times at intervals over 7 to 10 days and then inspect the plants carefully. If no live snails, even very tiny ones, are found, it should be safe to place the plants in your tank.)
****Feeding: Put A SMALL PINCH OF FOOD IN AND MAKE SURE THE FISH EAT IT ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. AFTER ABOUT 5 MINUTES, THE UNEATEN FOOD WILL SINK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK AND MAY NOT BE EATEN. It will fungus, smell and look unsightly. Feed your fish once a day. Remember, most fish will always appear to be hungry. Variety in your fish's diet is a good thing.
READ BOOKS - YOU NEED TO KNOW!
GOLDFISH ARE TEMPERATE NOT TROPICAL FISH
ITEMS YOU WILL NEED TO BEGIN:
- An aquarium of your choice (Get the largest you can afford and for which you have space.)
- A lid (canopy with light included)
- A suitable stand
- A heater suitable for the size of the tank
- A filter - many types available - and filter media
- An air pump (for some types of filters).
- Gravel (used with an under-gravel type of filter) or for aesthetic reasons if you have another type of filtration.
- A scraper
- A syphon for water changes
- A bucket to prepare water to return to the tank
- A stick-on type of thermometer
- Backing for the tank if desired
- A bottle of dechlorinator for water changes. (Get one that says it removes chloramines.)
- A variety of fish food
- An inexpensive timer
- A site for your aquarium setup where there is an electrical outlet.
READ BOOKS - WE NEVER KNOW ALL WE THINK WE DO!
10% off this product until August 31st 2008! (Discount applied at Check-Out)
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Start Right With Tropical Fishkeeping by Aquarian Fish Foods
Introduction
Freshwater tropical fish, as their name suggests, originate in freshwater rivers and lakes in the warmer parts of the world, particularly in South America and Central Africa.
There are literally tens of thousands of species of freshwater tropical fish, with new ones being discovered almost every day. With such a vast variety of fish, each living in its own particular environment, it's easy to see why fish keepers are never lost for new areas to study and new challenges to enjoy.
Fish Names
All fishes are classified by the 'binomial system' (two names). First there is the family or generic name -which should always be written with an initial capital letter. This is followed by the species name/s - which should always all be written in lower case letters, (both names ideally all in italics).
Thus Barbus tetrazona and Barbus oligolepis are two different species within the genus Barbus. Most fish do, however, also have an easier common name. Barbus tetrazona, for example, is commonly known as the Tiger Barb or Sumatra Barb.
There are over twenty families of commonly kept freshwater tropical fish and within each family there can be thousands of species - often living in widely differing environments. The family Cichlidae (Cichlids), for example, are thought to have over 1,000 different species existing in the great African lakes alone.
The main families:
Whilst there are over twenty families of freshwater tropicals, most fish of interest to the aquarist are members of one of the following eight families:
Family Anabantidae
Anabantoids are generally distinguished by the fact that they have a 'labyrinth chamber', a special organ which enables them to breath atmospheric air which they must have in order to survive. Native to the waters of South East Asia and Africa, most of the family have 'feelers' - modified ventral fins - which they use to detect food in murky waters. Most also create a 'bubble nest' for spawning. Examples of the family include Gouramis, Siamese Fighting Fish and the Paradise Fish.
Family Callichthyidae
Better known as catfish - probably the most popular tropical fish amongst hobbyists. Whilst most are hardy, adaptable bottom feeders they require occasional gulps of air to help supplement their gills. Catfish are also nocturnal and do best in a subdued light. Corydoras, one of the most popular aquarium species, have a bony plate along the side of their body. Other catfish have suckered mouths which enable them to fix onto rocks in the wild, which they use to graze algae from the side of the aquarium glass.
Family Characidae
Characins are one of the largest families of freshwater tropical fish, originating from Africa, and North and South America. All Characins have teeth but are without barbels or whiskers. Many also have a small extra adipose fin on the top rear of their body. Because of their schooling habit Characins, such as Tetras, are often kept in numbers in single species tanks.
Family Cichlidae
Most Cichlids are carnivorous and territorial and have a reputation for being aggressive. Many species are, however, very popular and ideal for the aquarium. The family occurs naturally throughout North and South America and throughout most of Africa especially in the great lakes of Malawi and Tanganyika.
Family Cobitidae
Known commonly as loaches, this is a family of bottom dwelling fish. Their mouths have feelers to help locate food and their bodies often have defensive erectile spines. They are widely found in Asia, Europe and in parts of Africa.
Family Cyprinidae
Although a large family of fishes, Cyprinids, which include Barbs, Rasboras, Danios and Minnows, generally have barbs which allow them to sort food from the bottom. The family also includes cold water species such as Goldfish as well as those who need the warm tropical waters.
Family Cyprinodontidae
Found in Africa, North and South America and Asia, this is the family of Killifishes or Egg Laying Toothcarps. As they are sometimes predatorial on smaller fishes, care must be taken when introducing them into a community tank. They prefer a slightly acidic water.
Family Poecilidae
This is the family of the Live Bearing Tooth Carps - small fishes such as Guppies, Platies, Mollies and Swordtails. As the name implies this family produce live young which are capable of swimming and feeding just after birth.
Choosing your Fish
There are two main areas which you need to consider. First there is a limit to the number of fish your aquarium can sustain without putting pressure on the Oxygen levels in the water and the level of pollution which fish create. You must also remember that fish grow and, as they do, will put even more pressure on their environment. The best advice is always to start off with just a few fish and add more over a period of several months. As a rough guide allow about 20 inches of fish combined body length for each square foot of surface water. For a tank 3ft long x 1 ft (3sq.ft.) wide you should not exceed 60 inches of fish.
The second consideration is the habit of fish. In their natural habitat fish lead very different lives and these natural habits will show themselves in your aquarium. In a community tank you might, therefore, wish to have fish which live and feed at all levels - top feeders such as Mollies, mid water feeders such as Barbs, and fish which live and feed on the bottom of the tank, such as Catfish.
Buying Your Fish
Buy locally if possible. Long journeys and a fall in water temperature on the way home can easily stress your fish. Should you later have problems it is also much easier to resolve them if your fish supplier is near by.
Choose an aquatic retailer with good stocks and a wide variety of fish - they are more likely to have specialist knowledge. Check that the fish have been properly quarantined before sale. Disease often takes a few weeks to show and a fish not quarantined can easily introduce diseases which infect all your fish.
Look at the fish carefully. Check that they are swimming peacefully and not rubbing themselves against the tank glass - often a sign of infestation.
Introducing fish to your tank
You should, of course, only introduce fish into water which is mature and free of chlorine. Also check on water temperature.
Before you let the fish free, float the opened plastic bags on the surface of the tank for about 20 minutes to equalise the water temperature and reduce the stress on the fish. Fish which are just introduced into a new tank may be nervous and hide away. Leave them for a few hours to get used to their hew surroundings. After that time give them a few AQUARIAN Tropical Fish Flakes. Apart from being highly nutritious, AQUARIAN foods are also made to be highly palatable to all tropical fish and this will encourage them to feed and settle down.
Ask the retailer as many questions as you can muster. Do the fish like alkaline or acid water? Are they compatible with the other fish you are thinking of buying? Do they have any special habitat needs such as caves? How large do they grow? Most specialist aquatic retailers are very knowledgeable and are always happy to give advice.
Feeding the Fish
To stay healthy, fish need a range of nutrients. The best and easiest way of providing these is in a complete balanced diet such as AQUARIAN flaked Fish Foods.
AQUARIAN Tropical Fish Flakes - A special blend of flakes to satisfy the nutritional requirements of all freshwater tropical community fish.
Specialist foods for freshwater tropical fish:
AQUARIAN Carnivore Flakes - Contains higher levels of the necessary proteins required by carnivorous fish, such as some Cichlids.
AQUARIAN Herbivore Flakes - Ideal for fish that can utilise a higher proportion of algae or vegetable matter in their diet, especially Guppies, Mollies and Platies.
AQUARIAN Fry Food - A high protein food finely ground and balanced for rapid growth of new-born fish or 'fry'.
AQUARIAN Growth Food - Small nutritious flakes containing extra protein, suitable for growing fish that have progressed from the fry stage.
AQUARIAN Tablet Food - Made from AQUARIAN Tropical Flakes compressed into tablet form. Can be fed to larger fish, or to bottom feeders such as Catfish. The tablet can be pressed onto the inside of the aquarium, which brings the fish into view when they feed.
FOR FREE HELP AND ADVICE on all aspects of fishkeeping write to: Aquarian Advisory Service, Waltham Aquacentre, P0 Box 5059, Melton Mowbray, LE144ZN England.
10% off this product until August 31st 2008! (Discount applied at Check-Out)
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The Nitrogen Cycle: How Mother Nature Cleans House by Alan Ruben
Introduction
Lets start off really basic. How far you get along into this is up to you.
Fish make Waste - Bacteria get rid of Waste.
Complex enough for you? OK, we can get a little more specific.
Fish produce Ammonia(NH3) as the majority of their waste. Ammonia is toxic to fish so we wouldn't want that to build up in our aquarium. Luckily, there are types of bacteria that use Ammonia as part of their metabolism.
They use up the available Ammonia and convert it to a compound known as Nitrite(NO2). So, all is safe and sound, right?
No. Unfortunately, Nitrite is also very toxic to fish.
Bummer.
Now it happens to be that another type of bacteria come along and use this Nitrite in their metabolism. They scrounge up all the Nitrite they can find and convert it to a compound known as Nitrate(NO3). So all is safe and sound?
YES! Well for the time being...
Nitrate is MUCH less toxic than either Ammonia or Nitrite but should not be allowed to build up. SO...the way to keep the Nitrate level down is...Water Changing.
I knew you didn't want to hear that but that's the way it is. For the majority of aquariums, water changing is just part of the scenery. No way around it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something (in my not so humble opinion).
Got the concept? Want more specifics? Are you sure? Ok, you asked for it.
When first setting up an aquarium, the tank and all of the folderol inside of it are relatively clean and free of bacteria, especially the kinds that we want. An aquarium takes time to establish a colony of "bugs" to get at the nasty wastes. This is what we call a Bacteria Bed, or also a Bio-Filter.
1. A new aquarium gets set up. (assume water etc. is ok)
2. Fish get introduced.
3. Fish get fed ( I would hope).
4. Fish swim happily in enjoyment of their new home.
5. Fish produce waste.
6. Ammonia from the waste starts to build up (TOXIC).
7. Bacteria start growing that use Ammonia.
8. Ammonia level starts to drop as Nitrite level builds (TOXIC).
9. Bacteria start growing that use Nitrite.
10. Nitrite level starts to drop as Nitrate level slowly rises (Much less Toxic)
11. Aquarist (that's you) keeps Nitrate levels in check by doing weekly, partial water changes.
12. Aquarist enjoys years of happy fish keeping and goes on to win the Nobel Prize.
Well, you never know... The point of this is, that the "break in cycle" takes some time to get going. A new tank isn't ready for a full load of fish because the Bio-Filter hasn't built up yet. Go slowly. Good things come to those who wait.
Had enough? Up for more? We can get more technical...ok then.
The types of bacteria that go through this Nitrogen Cycle are known as Aerobic Bacteria. Simply put, this means that they use Oxygen in their daily lives to do all the wonderful things they do. Without Oxygen, they cannot live. (Sound familiar?). They grow on surfaces in the aquarium. On the walls, gravel, decor, filter materials etc.
The best way to get these Aerobic bacteria to grow is to give them plenty of oxygen by having well aerated water AND to give them plenty of places to grow.
For many years, it was thought that Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter were the primary culprits in this dance of waste management in the aquarium. Recent research by Dr. Tim Hovanec of Aquaria/Marineland in California has shown that we may have been mistaken for all these years.
Now there's lots more that can be said on this subject, but I am tired and I think my Pizza might be here. Also do some web searching. There are many great resources out there. If you really want to rock your world, go out and get "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" by Diana Walstad. Then take everything I just said and turn it inside out!
Well, not really, but you'll see.
Now go get some fish!
10% off this product until August 31st 2008! (Discount applied at Check-Out)
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How Long Do You Wait Before Adding Fish? by Bill Pegasus
Introduction
Opinions vary so much on this subject that it is hard to give a reasonable answer. The Americans for instance have what is known as "cycling", which is the period of time a tank has to remain empty of fish until the good bacteria have established themselves and are controlling the conditions of the water in the tank. Most aquarists in the States recommend a six week waiting period using what they call "A Fishless Cycle". In order for the good bacteria to build up (starting the nitrogen cycle), they need a source of ammonia to feed on. When using this fishless cycle they recommend you add daily doses of pure ammonia to the tank for the bacteria to feed on, which is needed to actually start the nitrogen cycle working.
I would however like to point out that I personally have never used the "Fishless Cycle" method, and never shall. Having to sit and watch an empty tank for weeks on end is not my idea of a pleasurable hobby, so any references to "Cycle" in the following article shall mean the "Nitrogen Cycle", which in simple terms means the time that the system will take to establish a working biological filtration system.
I'm probably an old 'fuddy duddy' having only been involved with fish keeping/breeding/retail/wholesale/ and supply since I was eighteen, (I'm now 62) I've been reading just about anything of interest since I joined various tropical fish forums, and this 'cycling' thing seems to be a major topic. This is a 'new word' in fishkeeping to me, and I suppose also to other 'non American' members. Quite honestly, "do you really need all this to start a successful hobby?"
Let me, as an 'amateur' ichthyologist just run through a 'non chemical, non additive setup' that served myself and many other millions in the hobby successfully for several decades long before all these chemicals and additives became popular.
Preparation was the key, and for us 'oldies' it was a container/s in the back yard that collected clean strained rainwater. This was our source of top-ups, our new water supply, and often our source of live food, if the mossie larva or daphnia got into it. We would set the tank up, fit the u/g filter, and then arrange the pre-washed gravel. If available,we might also use unwashed gravel from another tank and possibly an old filter to speed the process along. Next we would fill the tank with our pre-aged water from our rain tub, bring it up to the right temperature, let it stand a few days, normally three to ensure the heat was constant and there were no probs. In those three days we would arrange plants and rocks, then perhaps introduce a guppy or two. The old pH testing strips from the chemist gave us a quick idea of the pH level, and if it was alkaline we would run a bit of peat in the filter bowl for a day or so to bring the level right. If it was too soft and acid we would add a bit of limestone or coral chips to the box filter and keep an eye on the pH until it was where we wanted it.
Basically that was it, with little or no stress to the fish. Our calculation for fish content was to allow 4 sq. inches of surface area per inch of fish, but with an air supply this could be increased. Water was never added unless it was exactly the same temperature as the water in the tank, and newcomers were never added until they were quarantined for ten days. Plants were meticulously examined for nasties and rinsed in a mild sterilising solution before adding to the tank. All mainly common sense.
Each tank had it own net and tools:
Nothing was ever taken from one to the other. Dipping of fingers or hands from one tank to the other was an absolute sin, and never done. Hands were washed before working on the next tank, and any drips or condensation were wiped away in case it/they dropped from one tank to the next lower one. A single drop of water can transmit a disease from one tank to another so quickly you wouldn't believe.
Water changes:
Water changes, (in my case) were done on a visual basis. If the water has evaporated ½" from its original marked level I would do a 30% water change, never every few days, and never more than perhaps once a month, and always using my aged water in the outside tub/s. Invariably the tanks might have needed a clean up, so in this situation we would siphon the rubbish off the bottom and into a bucket. The water that we siphoned out was dumped and replaced by our aged water. This was then our "water change" and few troubles were encountered. A balanced tank will keep itself free from excess toxins, e.g., the right water conditions, substrate-plants-filtration-and fish, any of which can cause an unbalance.
Water:
Too hard, too soft, too alkaline, too acid - all can be balanced without chemicals.
Substrate/gravel:
Too fine, packs down tight, causing bad circulation, especially with u/g filters, whereas too large a gravel will allow food to reach inaccessible places with dire consequences - food remains uneaten and quickly fouls the tank. Remedy, go for what's right, not what looks pretty.
Slow deterioration of rocks and ornaments:
Badly selected rocks and substrates, (lime-based gravels, sandstones, corals, shells, ornaments), will all change your tank conditions as they slowly leach or dissolve over time. That ornament or substrate may look great, but is it killing your fish?
Hiding Places:
Many types of fish need places to hide, but many things other than plants are usually unsightly. The upturned flower pot of the terra-cotta type can soon become disguised by algae growth and such, but a simple idea for quick camouflage is to spread silicone glue on the item and roll it in some gravel. You can do this with all sorts of things including bits of pipe that might be homes for your nocturnal fish such as some catfish.
Plants:
Too few plants - no hiding places for fragile fish, causing fish to be bullied. Again, find out the likes and dislikes of your plants. For instance, most Crypts prefer dimly lit areas, etc. Shallow gravel will not produce good plants. Bank your gravel to the rear of the tank (at least 3") and plant accordingly, big deep rooted plants to the rear, small types to the front. As with your garden, they need feeding and something to get their roots into. The wastes from your fish may in most cases be enough food, but a good root structure and light are essentials for all plants. A 'Plantab' for aquarium plants slipped under the roots will assist flagging plants. Or try this:
Plant Fertiliser:
Putting fertiliser under plants is a good idea, but unless it is in a tablet form it can be really messy. Try this. Mix a small quantity of organic peat and potting mix (again organic) in a bowl with water until the peat/potting mix becomes fully saturated. Use an ice cube tray and fill with the mixture. Pop it in the freezer till solid. You now have cubes of fertiliser that you can pop under your plants without mess. The ice will melt quickly leaving a nice deposit of fertiliser in the right place.
Weighted Plants:
Instead of attaching lead weights to plants, use a rubber band and a pebble. Place the pebble at the base of the plant and wrap the rubber band around both the pebble and the plant stem. Once buried it will remain unseen, and you have no bits of lead in your tank if the plant breaks free.
Filtration:
NEVER turn your filter or air off for any length of time, especially an undergravel filter. The bacteria buildup will skyrocket causing major probs instantly. Always have some form of air supply running if your tank is in the least bit crowded. Contrary to belief, the bubbles from an airstone don't put oxygen in the water. What the bubbles do is break up and disperse the CO2 that can build up in a tank. Watch for fish lurking near the surface with open mouths, a sure sign of lack of oxygen in the water. Not the Gouramis, Bettas etc, which are surface breathers anyway. For these fish, ensure the surface is scum free by dragging a sheet of paper over the surface of the water occasionally. This will completely remove the thin film that sometimes forms on the surface of the water. Check each day.
Heat Distribution:
Fit your heater as low as possible in your tank and clear of the gravel, and if it is a separate unit from the thermostat place it at the opposite end of the tank. This will prevent cold spots in your tank and provide a constant temperature at all levels. (Heat rises, so if possible fix your heater in a horizontal rather than a vertical position for better heat distribution).
Twin Heaters:
Fitting two heaters in a tank seems a waste, but if you set one to only come on at say 72degF then in the event of a heater failure you won't lose all your fish, and you will always have a spare heater on hand.
Feeding:
Feed half as much as you think your fish need, and if its not consumed in less than five minutes, you are feeding too much. An established tank will sustain your fish for a week or more without food, so don't think you need to feed them every time you pass the tank. "Ooh look, they're all excited at seeing me, they must be hungry…" In goes another feed, the third today. How often have you done or said this?
When to feed:
Never feed at night then turn the lights off and leave the fish in darkness, a major problem. The corys and kuhlis won't mind, but your tank will suffer if the night dwellers don't eat all the remains of the food. Small fish have small mouths, so vary your food type to suit them all. Give them a live food treat now and again, brine shrimp, microworms, grindal worms, white worms, or even a chopped up earthworm if you have big fish. In time you will know their likes and dislikes.
Problems with algae:
Throw the scraper away an get a couple of small plecos. They're fun, hardy, and adore algae.
Snails:
To me they are a damn nuisance, and have no place in a tropical fish tank, but the fish love them if you crunch them up.
Impulse buying of fish:
Fine if you know the fish, and of course is great for the LFS (Local Fish Shop), but can cause many upsets and even tears if you don't read first, so take an hour or so and read all you can before you jump in the deep end.
Lastly:
Read, read, read - the three rules of keeping fish. Learn every possible thing you can about where your fish comes from, its water conditions, its temperature limitations, the food it eats, the species it can live with, its breeding habits, is it a loner or does it school with others, and in general, its likes and dislikes. piranhas and neons have an adipose fin and are distant relatives, but they definitely don't live together, so read and learn all you can BEFORE you add that particular fish to your collection. (No comments on the piranhas please)
It seems a lot to take in all at once, but all this info. is on this site and many others just waiting to be read if you care to read and study it. My philosophy is that "If anyone can teach me something I will listen, should it be a child, or a ninety year old." So I am learning each time I read an article about tropical fish.
We all lose fish at some time or other, and the reasons can be mystifying, but personally I feel that many of the losses are caused by either sheer neglect and not making oneself familiar with the fish BEFORE purchase, along with the possibility that many of the fish were actually poisoned due to the intake of chemicals, incorrect or too many water changes and such.
We can take a pill for a headache or an ailment, but if we take too many of them it will undoubtedly kill us. This will possibly cause a lot of backfire from the clued-up aquarists, but I still feel that if you read up on your fish, get to know its habits and living and water conditions and the neighbours it lives with, then you are well on the way to having a less stressful and very enjoyable hobby. Many newcomers try it once and leave quickly after their first failures. We don't want this to happen to you, so read everything you can about the hobby, consider your situation and your set-up, then, and only then, think (very carefully) about your next purchase.
...Just a note for people who keep goldfish in a heated aquarium:
All fish have the right to a decent life, even goldfish. I myself have culled thousands of fish in my time I suppose, but these were either runts or a defective strain that I would not allow to continue living and breeding for fear they would fill our tanks with some of the oddities I see today. Selective breed by all means, but don't allow your runts and defective breeds to enter the world of the aquarist. (Are there any 'true' strains still out there?). Goldfish are cold water fish, and keeping them at 70F+ degrees will shorten their life span by many years. We had goldfish that lived happily for ten years, outside in a pool that would freeze over in winter with over an inch of ice, but come spring they were always there. The heated tank may also cause undue stress to the fish, who knows. Why not be a good aquarist and introduce some youngster to the hobby by donating your fish to them rather than make the fish suffer all it's life?... but make sure they read a good book about goldfish first.
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Tank Selection by Andy Gordon of England
Introduction
Obviously the most essential piece of equipment there is. There are a variety of size shapes and even materials to choose from. Careful thought is needed before choosing any aquaria.
Material
- All Glass
This is the material most often used. Sheets of glass bonded together by silicone.
Advantages - Relatively cheap, Easy to clean, scratch resistant. Easy to repair.
Disadvantages - Fragile and brittle, which make it easy to crack. The silicone edge can be peeled away and result in a leak. The tank corners are particularly prone to damage. Scratches that do occur cannot be treated. Curved pieces although available are very expensive.
- Plastic
Often used for small cheap tanks.
Advantages - No joints to fail. Very cheap.
Disadvantages - Easily scratched. Easily cracked. Impossible to repair. Usually small in size.
- Acrylic
Although technically a plastic I am treating it as a different option. Used for large and expensive aquaria and other quality aquatic equipment.
Advantages - More clear than glass. Relatively light. Easier to shape. Stronger and more impact resistant than glass. Scratches can be polished out.
Disadvantages - Easily scratched. Very expensive. Can't be repaired.
Shape and Size.
Unless the tank has been measured to fit in an alcove I would suggest that you get the biggest size that you are happy with. Most people exchange their first tank because it is too small to meet their needs. Not only that but large tanks offer a more stable environment than do small ones and believe it or not they are easier to maintain.
The next deciding factor is what the tank is for. Discus fish and angelfish require a deep tank of at least 15 inches. Fast swimming open water fish requires an aquarium at least 36 inches in length. African cichlids require a lot of rockwork and unless it is built like a wall at the rear of the aquarium (which looks very unnatural and is no use to the fish) a tank at least 18 inches wide will be required. Obviously it goes without saying that if large fish are to be kept then a large tank around will be required.
There are a lot of odd shaped tanks around now too, and whilst these might look trendy they would be a nightmare to landscape and maintain. I have lately seen:
- A 5ft deep hexagonal column 18 inches wide containing angelfish. The problems of maintaining such a tank would be immense. No standard airpump will work at that depth, a temp. gradient would form, cleaning the tank would be a real chore. Hex tanks are bad enough but this with the extra depth, don't do it.
- Two tanks connected together by a broad clear pipe. Quite how the connecting pipe would be kept clean and free from unsightly algae and other dirt is anyone's guess. And unless the two halves were absolutely level there is a chance of a very sudden and catastrophic failure.
- Picture frame tanks, which are no more than 3 inches wide and hang on the wall. These tanks are so small that they could house no more than 4 or 5 small tetras and soon look tatty because they are so impractical.
It is better to stick to the more usual shapes, which are very practical to use and offer great viewing. They can easily be made to any size and if in/on a specially built cabinet they can be made to fit into any room.
If something really special is called for there are bow fronted aquaria, but one big disadvantage is if they break on the front they are uneconomical to repair.
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Filters For Dummies Part 1 by Grant Gussie
Introduction
Your tanks have too many fish in them. My tanks have too many fish in them. Everyone who keeps fish has tanks with too many fish in them. "But," you say, "I only have one inch of fish per gallon, like you told me to have". Very good. You therefore have a low enough fish density that it is possible to maintain a healthy tank, but you are still going to have to maintain it. It will not take care of itself…there are just too many fish in it for that. How many lakes do you suppose have one inch of fish per gallon in them? Answer: none. The same goes for the rivers and the oceans. Let’s face it, fish densities in our aquaria are much, much higher than in nature. Our aquaria therefore require regular maintenance in the form of feeding, water changing, and cleaning. You can not eliminate these chores, you can just reduce their urgency by keeping your tanks’ fish densities as low as is practical.
So, you are stuck with doing (at least some) tank maintenance. Ho hum. But all is not lost, since there is a very simple way to reduce the workload, a method that is so universally employed that it is often thought of as involving a mandatory piece of equipment. The filter.
All filters have one thing in common: they move water through a porous material. This material is called "filter media" in the aquarists’ parlance. All filters also require some form of pumping mechanism, and these come in two basic types: air lift and power. The air lift filter makes use of air bubbles rising up a vertical tube to move water. These are relatively low capacity devices that require an external air pump. Power filters have a small electrically powered water pump incorporated within them and do not rely on an external air pump. These can move water at a much greater flow rate than can an air-lift filter of comparable cost, power consumption, or physical size.
Filters will do a number of things for you. Most obviously, they will strain suspended junk out of the water (mostly fish poo and uneaten food). This makes the water clearer. Filters may also have a biological action, where living organisms remove dissolved fish wastes. This makes the water purer. Another way to make water purer is through chemical filtration, in which dissolved chemicals are taken out of the water by a chemical filter medium. Various kinds of filters are used to produce one or more of these three types of filtration – mechanical, biological, and chemical. So I will discuss each of these three in turn.
MECHANICAL FILTRATION
Most easily supplied, but alas, also the least important, is mechanical filtration. The reason it is the least important is simple, fish really don’t care (within limits) if their water is clear or not. Not many lakes and rivers are as clear as the typical aquarium (or certainly, at least, not as clear all the time) so fish can handle a modest amount of suspended solids without trouble.
But everyone uses mechanical filters anyway. It looks nicer. All mechanical filters pass water though a filter media that serves as a mechanical strainer. Because the filter media traps the solid material, it will eventually clog up, thus rendering the filter ineffective. Mechanical filters therefore require regular maintenance. The more you clean a mechanical filter the better, because the gunk they trap will decompose and add pollution to the water.
In the distant past the filter media of choice was "glass wool" – horrible stuff that cut fingers and looked like it would give you asbestosis. Then polyfiber filter material came on the market in the late 60’s – a vast improvement. This is the same stuff sold to stuff pillows, but it is repackaged and sold in pet stores for a comparatively exorbitant price. Nowadays, however, the most popular filter medium is open-celled foam rubber, for the simple reason that it can be rinsed and reused. They can also be cut to fit any filter box. A useful trick if you want to cut foam (and own a table saw) is to freeze the foam in an ice block, then cut the ice on the table saw.
Not only do you need a filter medium, you also need a filter box to put it in. The first of the mechanical filters to be widely used in aquaria were submersible box filters. These are operated via an airlift. Box filters are cheap, but they have low capacities and are consequently only recommended for tanks smaller than 40 liters.
Hanging power filters were introduced in the 60’s and were a great step forward in performance. There are two basic types of hanging power filter. The earlier filters all used the siphon design, where filtered water is pumped out of the filter box and is replaced by tank water that flows into the filter box through a siphon. This design relied on the siphon being maintained or they would run dry. It is (and always will be) a real pain to get all the air out of these filters’ siphons. But with a hacksaw you can modify those filters with the "motor on top" so that they at least do not rely on a finicky siphon. Cut a notch in the top off the filter on the side opposite the hanging lip, and then hang the filter inside the aquarium. The tank water then simply overflows into the filter box through the notch, and no siphon tubes are required. Some hanging filters perform much better after this modification is done. The hideously over-powered Superking model comes to mind, since water just cannot flow through the siphon tubes fast enough to keep this monster’s motor satisfied.
Most modern hanging filters are nowadays of the "overflow" design. In this design the pump is connected to the tank water directly through an inlet pipe, and the pump pushes water into the bottom of the filter box. The water then flows up through the filter material and overflows into the aquarium as a small waterfall. The advantages of this design are that they are quieter (never blowing air) and self-priming (you don’t have to get the air out of a siphon tube). Their disadvantage is that you can not direct the return water, it just falls straight down. They therefore tend to refilter the same water over and over again. You can solve this problem by attaching a length of hose to the inlet pipe, so water is drawn in from the other side of the tank rather than from below the waterfall.
Another design of power filter is the canister filter. This design uses a sealed filter sitting on the floor and connected to the aquarium by lengths of siphon hose. Thankfully, the siphons on canisters are a lot easier to get going than the ones on hanging filters because canisters are placed much lower than the aquarium. Canisters tend to be somewhat more expensive and also pump much less water (per dollar) than hanging filters. They may leak as well, so should sit in a bucket on the floor. And they are also much more difficult to clean than hanging filters, as they must be partially disassembled before cleaning. They do however hold much more filter media than hanging filters and so serve as reasonably efficient bacterial filters (see below). They also have the potentially tremendous advantage that they do not require that the tank be completely full of water to operate.
BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION
Although I have a low opinion on the usefulness of mechanical filtration, there is one application in which a mechanical filter is very useful: as a pre-filter for a biological filter. Biological filtration removes dissolved pollution, and so it is the most important kind of filtration, and the only kind of filtration that a fresh water aquarium actually needs. But if you use a mechanical filter to strain the solid gunk out of the water before it reaches the biological filter, the biological filter can be left alone to do its job for longer periods of time.
The most important role that biological filtration has is the elimination of ammonia, which is quite toxic to fish. You can get rid of ammonia in two ways: let plants eat it or let bacteria eat it. In practice, of course, both types of filtration will occur in any planted aquarium, regardless of what you do. Filter bacteria will grow on the plant roots and stems, and the plants will take up ammonia as they grow. By including an additional biological filter you are only promoting a natural process so that it can occur quickly enough to rid the tank of the ammonia produced by the number of fish in that tank.
BACTERIAL FILTRATION
Aquarists often think that bacterial filters are the only kind of biological filters there are. This is not so, but it is true that most biological filters in use are bacterial filters. In these filters bacteria eat the ammonia, thus creating nitrate as the final waste product. The ammonia is consumed in a two-stage process. First Nitrosococcus bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite, and then Nitrospira bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate (by the way, these two bacterial genera are almost always misidentified as Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, respectively). Both of these conversions consume oxygen, and so they are called "aerobic". And both of these conversions require some time to get going, because the bacteria involved are slow growers. The ammonia-to-nitrite conversion is usually well underway within two weeks of setting up a new filter, but the nitrite-to-nitrate conversion generally takes longer, usually four to six weeks. A bacterial filter is not "mature" until it successfully converts ammonia all the way to nitrate. The process of maturing a bacterial filter is called "cycling". Filters that are not fully cycled can lead to "New Tank Syndrome", which is the loss of fish from ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning. This is the reason that it is recommended that new aquaria be left with only a couple of fish for six weeks before the remainder of the fish population is added.
Various commercial products are sold to help you cycle a tank faster by providing packaged bacteria. A lot of discussion has been around about their relative merits, and manufacturers have made lots of claims backed by "scientific" research (that for some reason never gets properly published) on how good their product is, but all this stuff is just so much crap. Don’t buy any of it. They will just add organic pollution to your tank – they are basically just sewage anyway. If you want to speed up the process then seed a new filter with some filter media from an established one. If you don’t have an established filter handy, just be patient. Your filter will cycle by itself.
The first bacterial filter to gain wide use is the undergravel filter, which became popular in the 70’s. These are inexpensive and effective bacterial filters, and so are still in wide use. In undergravel filters, water is pulled down though the gravel by an airlift or water pump that draws water from below a slotted false bottom beneath the gravel. The flow of oxygenated water allows the bacteria to grow on the gravel grains, and so ammonia is consumed while passing through the gravel.
The problems with undergravel filters become quickly apparent. First of all, they don’t do plants any favors. People can and do grow plants with undergravel filters, but growing plants is a lot easier without them. More importantly however, because UG filters draw water and fish poo down into the gravel, these filters are very hard to keep clean and they soon clog up. All the solid matter gets broken down by other bacteria which creates free phosphate and even more ammonia, and hence even more nitrate. Nitrate and phosphate levels increase rapidly, and so algae grow with abandon. Keeping the gravel clean enough to prevent this only results in the removal of most of your desirable bacteria along with the gunk. Undergravel filters cause far too many long-term maintenance problems (especially in moderately to heavily stocked tanks) to be recommended.
An improvement over undergravel filters is the reverse-flow undergravel filter. In these devices, water is pumped down through the "uplift" tubes and then rises up through the gravel. The water is mechanically pre-filtered before it is pumped so that the poo is not trapped in the gravel. By keeping the mechanical pre-filter clean you prevent the solid waste from breaking down and adding to the nutrient load of the aquarium. This allows the bacteria in the gravel to grow undisturbed for much longer periods of time. So with proper maintenance, reverse flow UG filters result in a cleaner and less algae-ridden tank. A regularly cleaned mechanical prefilter is now regarded as a very important part of any high-capacity biological filter. Biological filters that lack a mechanical prefilter should only be used in very lightly stocked tanks.
Reverse-flow undergravel filters do however have their disadvantages as well. Plants suffer from reverse-flow undergravel filters just as they do from downward-flow UG filters. Tanks with these filters also require supplemental aeration, since oxygen is removed from the water as it passes up through the gravel, and the filter does not create any surface agitation or bubbles to replenish it.
The next advancement in bacterial filters was the wet/dry trickle filter, popular by the mid-80’s. This filter is essentially a small aquarium underneath the main one. Water flows into the filter after exiting the main aquarium through an overflow pipe. The water is mechanically pre-filtered and then passed over the filter media, which is kept otherwise emersed ("dry") and thus fully exposed to air. Once the water passes over the filter media, it collects in a ("wet") sump, and from there a powerful water pump lifts the water back up to the main aquarium. By passing water over an emersed surface these filters actually saturate the water with oxygen rather than deplete it. Also, because an overflow is used, this filter has the benefit of "surface skimming", which removes the film that builds up on the water’s surface.
The filter media used in wet/dry filters is several liters of any one of a wide variety of little plastic thingies. Various manufacturers of the thingies tell of all sorts of unpublished "scientific" results proving that theirs’ are the best. But the thingies of choice are still those plastic pot scrubbers sold at Safeway (or available in bulk at CostCo). They cost less than half of what the imported German ones do, and they work just as well.
Unfortunately, wet/dry trickle filters are large devices, and they take up pretty much all of the room under the aquarium. They also require a powerful pump that is expensive to both buy and to operate. A wet/dry filter is really a second aquarium under the "real" one, so there are obvious additional costs involved with building and connecting two aquaria where one was used before. One wet/dry filter can however service many aquaria, and so these filters are the most popular choice in "central" filter systems.
Also available are "fluidized bed filters’. These filters are more compact than wet/dry filters. In these filters water is pumped up through graded filter sand, which is suspended by the up-flow. Since sand grains are so small, a tremendous biological filter area is available in a small volume. Unfortunately, they are tricky to design since it is necessary to keep the sand suspended but not have it flow out of the top. The small sand grains also pack tightly and go anaerobic very quickly if there is a power outage.
Much less expensive and complicated are the new combination mechanical/biological hanging filters. These are highly recommended for medium-sized to larger tanks. These devices are essentially hanging power filters with some kind of biological filter module downstream of the mechanical filter. The biological filter can be a drip plate or a turning water wheel. The wheels are also sold separately so they can be retrofitted to an existing canister filter (a very nice idea). These devices are new on the market but they are now widely available.
The final kind of bacterial filter is the sponge filter. These are simple airlift devices that have a relatively low capacity. Essentially they are just foam rubber blocks with airlifts attached. The foam rubber sits on the tank bottom and water is drawn through it and up the airlift tubes. Because these filters lack a mechanical prefilter, they trap the solid material that really should be removed, just as undergravel filters do. Rinsing the filter clean removes most of the bacteria it was intended to grow, thus disrupting its biological activity. These filters do however have the tremendous advantage that they can not trap even very small fishes, and are therefore often used in fry tanks.
Another very good use for a sponge filter is to use it as a mechanical prefilter for a canister filter. As previously mentioned, canister filters require disassembly to clean, and cleaning the filter removes the bacteria they are intended to grow. But by sticking a sponge filter over the inlet of a canister, we prevent gunk from entering the canister, thus allowing it to act as a purely biological filter that would almost never need to be disassembled for cleaning.
PLANT FILTRATION
The second kind of biological filter is the photosynthetic plant filter. Plant filters are a major improvement in biological filtration over bacterial filters in several ways. Plants take up ammonia and incorporate it into its tissues directly, and so there is no build up of nitrate. They also take up metals and phosphates and so purify the water much better than do bacteria. They therefore help combat the problem of algae growing in the aquarium, rather than contribute to it. And of course, plants are net producers of oxygen, rather than consumers.
The plants are grown in trays through which the water flows.
The temple plant (Nomophila stricta) is a very good choice as a filter for fresh water since it is incredibly fast growing and has a correspondingly high uptake of ammonia and other nutrients. Temple plants can be grown fully submerged, but they grow faster, and therefore filter better, when they are allowed to grow up out of the water. They do not need to be grown in gravel. Instead, it is possible to grow temple plants "hydroponically". Simply stick cuttings through the holes of an egg crate held just above the water surface. Make sure that the bottom of the cutting is in the water. The cutting will start to take root almost immediately. I have also had great success growing temple plants in an illuminated wet/dry trickle filter that uses Perlite® potting soil additive as a filter medium. The plant roots grew throughout the Perlite.
Salt water, on the other hand, is filtered best with a (fully submerged) higher alga like Caulerpa, or a salt-tolerant vascular plant like the mangrove. Caulerpa must attach itself to a solid surface (such as coral rock) to grow, while mangroves can be grown hydroponically.
The difficulties of plant filters are twofold. First of all, a plant generally requires more care than a bacterium; and secondly, plant filters are physically quite large and expensive. The typical plant filter design is similar to the under-the-tank wet/dry trickle filter (discussed above) but with the additional cost and complexity that comes with the requisite bright illumination.
The only plant filters offered for sale are called "algal turf scrubbers" which are designed for growing submerged algae in salt water. If you want to grow emersed plants in a filter you will have to build the filter yourself.
CHEMICAL FILTRATION
The third form of filtration is chemical filtration. Most often this is done with activated carbon. Activated carbon will adsorb dissolved organic molecules and metals, thus purifying the water. Adsorption (with a "d") differs from absorption (with a "b") in that adsorption is a process in which the pollutant sticks to a solid surface by an electro-chemical bond, while absorption is the purely mechanical process of "sopping it up".
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Filters For Dummies Part 2 by Grant Gussie
Introduction Continued
Carbon filtration requires the regular purchase of fresh filter media because the old carbon must be discarded when it is exhausted (carbon can not be economically reactivated at home). There are a large number of brands of activated carbons available. These carbons come from a variety of different sources, including wood, coal, and coconut shells. Most commonly used are bituminous and lignite coal.
Tests reveal that the most expensive carbon is not necessarily the best at removing organic matter from aquarium water. Surprisingly, the inexpensive Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Super Activated Carbon brand scored best of those brands commonly sold in local stores (Harker, 1998).
Carbon filtration is quite important in salt-water aquaria because marine fishes are very sensitive to pollution, and because of the expensive sea salt they require. It is therefore very expensive to make the massive water changes required to keep pollution levels low enough for salt-water fish. So it is in everyone’s best interest to purify the old water through carbon filtration. A lot of debate goes on as to how much carbon is needed, but current thinking is that you should use only a little carbon but change it often. Harker recommends about 1mL carbon per 4 liters of water (3 tablespoons per 50 gallons), and to use the carbon only intermittently, about 12 hours per week, using fresh carbon each week. Put the carbon in the filter so water flows through it, but only slowly.
Also recommended for marine aquaria is chemical filtration with a foam fractionator, also known as a protein skimmer. A large protein skimmer is now generally considered to be mandatory equipment for all salt-water tanks.
Skimmers work like this: fine air bubbles are injected into a downward flowing column of water. Hydrophobic molecules like lipids and most proteins adhere to the bubbles and rise with them to form a froth at the surface of the water column. This froth is pushed upward through an outlet by more froth that continues to collect below it. The froth then flows into a collecting cup for removal. By removing the organic molecules before they break down, the skimmer helps maintain a much higher water quality than can be easily maintained without one.
Skimmers inject air into the water by one of two ways. Air can be injected conventionally with an air pump and a fine air diffuser. This design tends to be used in lower capacity skimmers suitable for tanks smaller than 400 liters. But larger aquaria and reef aquaria usually employ venturi skimmers. These have powerful water pumps that force water through a narrowed opening into which an air inlet leads. This opening is called a venturi. The water must speed up to go through the narrowed opening of the venturi, and the faster a fluid travels the lower its pressure is. So air is drawn through the inlet to the inside of the venturi.
But alas, only very large, powerful, and expensive skimmers work in fresh water. This is because fresh water has a higher surface tension than salt water and so the air bubbles are larger – too large to cause the water to froth. Very energetic pumps are consequently required to froth fresh water, making a fresh water skimmer economically unviable. They consequently are not used in fresh water aquaria, but they are used in sewage treatment plants where pollution levels are much higher and frothing is more easily achieved.
So how do you chemically filter a fresh water aquarium? If a fresh water aquarium is full of very inexpensive tap water then the simple answer is…you don’t. Why bother? Tap water is cheap and so why not just change the water with fresh instead of trying to purify the old stuff? The nitrates, phosphates, and organic matter dissolved in your tank are great fertilizers, and since you have to water your lawn and houseplants anyway, just water them with old tank water and give your fish new water. While you are at it, rinse your mechanical filter foam in the wastewater before giving it to the plants so they get some solid fertilizer too. Nothing beats organic!
RECOMMENDATIONS
So, that should be about all you need to know about the various kinds of filters used in both fresh and salt water tanks. But for your first fresh water aquarium, I would recommend a hanging biological power filter and a lot of plants in the tank. For a fish room, I would recommend a central filter system using a combination wet/dry trickle filter and plant filter. For marine fish tanks, the same recommendations apply except that you should also add a carbon filter and a large protein skimmer. Marine coral reef tanks (which receive very little feeding) are better off with only a large skimmer and carbon filtration (no wet-dry filter), along with a large quantity of porous "live" rock that serves as an in-tank biological filter. But the filtration of coral reef tanks is a specialized topic beyond the scope of this article, so I would recommend you do some further reading before you attempt it.
REFERENCES
Hovanec, T. A. and E. F. DeLong. 1996. Comparative analysis of nitrifying bacteria associated with freshwater and marine aquaria. Appl Environ Microbiol 62:2888-2896
Harker, R. 1998. Granular Activated Carbon In The Reef Tank: Fact, Folklore, And Its Effectiveness In Removing Gelbstoff — Part One Aquarium Frontiers on Line May & June 1998?
Diatomaceous Earth Filtration
Also used as a mechanical filter medium is something called "diatomaceous earth". This is made of the hard silica exoskeletons of single-celled marine organisms called diatoms. These skeletons are not only very small, they are festooned with a baffling assortment of spikes, holes, hooks, and assorted appendages that trap suspended particles very well. Anything larger than a bacterium gets trapped by these filters, so they make the water very clear. That’s why they are often used in swimming pools.
Diatomaceous earth requires its own specially designed filter unit. These filters are tricky to set up because you have to suck up free-floating diatoms so that they coat the inside of a nylon filter bag before filtering your tank. You then run tank water through the bag until it clogs up. The bag is then rinsed out, discarding the diatoms along with the trapped gunk. The process is then repeated with a fresh coating of diatoms. Fresh diatoms must be purchased separately.
Because DE is so effective at filtering out anything and everything, these filters clog up in no time. And because of their short running time between cleanings, diatomaceous earth filters are only good for intermittent use. The idea is that you would only filter a tank for ½ an hour or so once a week, rather than running the filter continuously.
These filters were once very popular – aquarium magazines from the 60’s and 70’s were full of their ads – but nowadays, few people bother to use them because quite frankly they are more trouble than they are worth. Water clarity is more easily achieved through conventional filters and proper tank maintenance.
Denitrifiers
For a short time in the early to mid 90’s there were advertised a lot of different kinds of denitriying filters. But you don’t see them much anymore because they don’t work. That sort of put a damper on their sales.
Anyway, this is how they are supposed to work. Nitrate can be used by anaerobic bacteria as an oxidizer instead of oxygen. In effect, the bacteria breathe nitrate instead of oxygen. So if you create a region where there is no oxygen, but lots of nitrate, and a food source for the bacteria in the form of a carbohydrate, then the bacteria will consume the nitrate. The end result is nitrous oxide or nitrogen gas, which diffuses out of the water into air.
In denitrifying filters water is very slowly passed through a submerged filter medium. A small amount of a sugar (bacteria-food) is added. Aerobic bacteria consume all the oxygen in the outer layers of the filter medium, and so bacteria in the inner filter consume the nitrate in order to metabolize the remaining sugar. By the time the water passes through the filter, it has had all of the sugar and oxygen consumed, as well as at least some of the nitrate. The water is then aerated to replace the lost oxygen and get rid of the excess nitrogen gas. It is then returned to the tank.
So, why don’t they work? Well, in practice, they are just too touchy. Too much organic matter in the water and you get poisonous hydrogen sulfide being produced. Pass the water through too quickly and ammonia is produced. Etc., etc. And even if you do get them set right, you must pass the water through them so slowly that they do not produce enough nitrate-free water to make any real difference to your tank, unless you get a very big denitrification filter. That means big bucks.
Other aquarium clubs and non-profit organizations can use this, or other articles, in their own journals or web sites, provided that credit is given to the author, the Calgary Aquarium Society, and The Calquarium. In the case of a reprint in a hardcopy publication, two copies of the published work are sent to the Calgary Aquarium Society at its mailing address. And in the case of a reprint in an Internet publication, a link back to the original article site must be provided in a prominent location.
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Feeding Fish by George Herrman
How much do I feed my fish? - This is a question we get asked every day, and there is no hard and fast rule for feeding fish. It’s all a matter of trial and error, but one thing is for sure - over feeding does more harm than under feeding. Bear in mind that in the wild fish don’t get fed on a regular basis, and in certain seasons food is very scarce.
Start by sprinkling a little |
