"Tropical Aquarium"

"Tropical Aquarium"," They are quite easy to set up but take a lot of time and care to maintain properly.


STEP1

Make sure your fish tank is not in direct sunlight, this could cause the water to over heat and will promote the growth of algae.
 Put in the gravel to a depth of around two or three inches and decorate with rocks or wood and if you are not planning on real plants then you can place your plastic plants in your tank.


STEP 2

Wash out your fish tank with cold water, fit the filter, thermometer, heater and air pump (chances are you bought a fish tank with all this ready setup for you).
 You should set the temperature to between 22-29 degrees centigrade.
 This gives the water time to get rid of all the chlorine and for the filter system to build up some good bacteria.


STEP 3

While your tank is maturing why not choose your fish and plants.
 I bought a pleco for my three foot tank, big mistake the fish can grow to around two feet in length.
 I tend to go for one big show fish and a few medium size tank cleaning catfish.
 There is nothing worse than buying lots of fish and they all die after a few days because the tank wasn't quite ready.
 Leave them there for 15 - 20 minutes,then open the bag and little by little add small amounts of water from your aquarium to the bag.


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LOOK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Cycling the Tropical Aquarium - A Guide to Setting Up Tropical Aquariums

"Cycling the Tropical Aquarium - A Guide to Setting Up Tropical Aquariums"," All that is needed is a basic understanding of the nitrogen cycle, and ph, nitrite and nitrate testing kits.
 Local fish stockists will often test samples of aquarium water for free.
 Ammonia is deadly to fish.
 Nitrates can also be harmful to fish, but are absorbed by live plants, completing the cycle.
 When you start out from scratch, the amounts of good bacteria in your tank will be negligible.
 Ultimately, they may die.
 Take care to make sure that the fish in the source tank are healthy, otherwise you might also be introducing disease.
 Beneficial bacteria are everywhere; once you have a source of ammonia in your tank, good bacteria will establish a colony in your filter.


You now need to start off the ammonia cycle.


When the tank is cycling, ammonia levels will rise, ultimately quite sharply.
 Then nitrites will begin to rise.

 Your tank has cycled and you're ready for everyone's favourite part - choosing the fish!