Setting Up A Simple Aquarium At Home

Setting Up A Simple Aquarium At Home

How to set up a simple Fresh water Aquarium at home and maintain it to enjoy the beauty of nature in close quarters.
Watching colorful fish swaying is enjoyable. Everyone loves to have an aquarium at home. A fresh water aquarium is a miniature water-world. Creating it at home is fun.

To setup an aquarium at home select a place where there is no direct sunlight. Buy a medium sized glass tank. Larger the tank minimum is your maintenance problem. The tank should be fitted with a cover or hood. Fix a fluorescent tube in it. This total set up is readily available with aquarium shops.

The bottom of the tank can be filled up to 2 inches height with coarse river sand. Avoid using pebbles or stones to fill up, as dirt will settle between them and maintenance will be difficult. The river sand should be washed thoroughly 15 to 20 times till the water poured on it stays clear. Only soft water should be used.

First fill only one third of the tank with water. Introduce ornamental items like a few big pebbles and driftwoods – woods that you find on the riversides. These are only optional to add up to the beauty of the aquarium. Plant firmly on the sand, fresh water plants like Vallisneria, Amazon Sword and Lace Plant. These can be bought from aquarists. Fill up the rest of the tank with water and allow it to settle down for three to four days.

Buy healthy fish, which can stay together in a community tank like Guppies, Mollies, Swordtails, Tetras, Angelfish and Gold Fish. A few scavengers like Loaches & Catfish can be added. Fish brought in plastic bags from the shop should be floated on the surface of the tank for at least 15 minutes to equalize the temperature of water. Avoid overcrowding. Allow one and half liters of water for every 1cm. Length of fish. To calculate the liters of water in the tank multiply length by height by width in cms. And divide by 1000. Then 10% has to be deducted for the sand, plants and decorative materials.

Feeding should be done once or twice a day. It is best to buy the fish food pellets available in aquarium shops. Food given should be consumed within two to three minutes. Watch and feed carefully. Any excess food should be removed. Otherwise it will cloud the water. The lights should be kept on, throughout the day to enable the plants to grow. Artificial plants can be substituted for natural ones or both can also be mixed.

Once in three weeks the glasses should be cleaned with a scrubber to remove any formation of algae. The dirt collected at the bottom on top of the sand should be siphoned out with the help of a thin bore tube. Amount of water removed should be replaced gently without disturbing much. Only once in 6 to 7 months the total set up should be thoroughly washed, cleaned and reset after removing the fish first with the help of a net to another container.

A fresh water aquarium set with bright colored fish, evergreen plants and light brightens up the home. It is a silent beautiful nature. Young and old enjoy watching it. Watching it reduces one's stress, tension and even blood pressure. It is a creation, which gives tremendous satisfaction and happiness. It takes you closer to nature.