More than 12.5 million households keep freshwater fish in the United States. That makes them one of the most popular pets in the country!
Not only are they fun to look at it, but they can benefit your health as well. For one thing, studies have shown that owning a fish tank can reduce both your heart rate and blood pressure.
Are you trying to figure out how to set up an aquarium? Not sure what it is that you have to do?
No worries—we’ll be going over all the essential steps below. Keep reading to learn more!
How to Set Up an Aquarium: 5 Things That You Have to Do
Setting up an aquarium isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Here’s a short guide. Before we move ahead to give a brief guide about it we would suggest you to check this 30 gallon fish tank if you are looking for the best fish tanks.
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Plan Your Tank
Decide what species you want to keep—it’ll determine the size of the tank that you need. For example, you’ll need a minimum of 30 gallons if you want to keep African cichlids.
Once you know what you’ll be getting, you can move on to buying the equipment.
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Clean the Tank
Make sure that the fish tank is clean before adding any water. For example, it might be a good idea to wipe it with a damp cloth—that’ll get rid of any dust that has built up.
Never use detergents or soap as they can harm your fish.
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Add Water and Substrate
The next step is to add your substrate. Before you do, though, make sure to rinse it with water as it’ll likely be very dusty.
Next, fill the aquarium with water. Remember to use a dechlorinator, otherwise, the chemicals in the water can harm your tank’s inhabitants.
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Install Your Equipment
Once you’ve set up your tank, you can install your equipment. For starters, you’ll want to add a filter protein skimmer. Basically, what it’ll do is clean the water of debris.
Aside from that, you’ll also want to install a heater (assuming that you’re keeping tropical fish). A thermometer is also a good idea as it’ll let you know whether or not the water is properly heated. Click here for Absolute Koi and Products.
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Cycle the Tank
Finally, you want to cycle your tank, a process that can take up to several weeks. Ultimately, the goal is to build up a bed of beneficial bacteria.
What will they do? They’ll remove toxins such as ammonia and nitrites from the water so that they won’t hurt your fish.
Tip: To speed up the cycling process, you can add filter media from an established tank.
Setting Up Your Own Aquarium
And there we have it—a short guide on how to set up an aquarium. If anything, it’s not that difficult at all as long as you follow the proper steps!
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