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Fish Care And How To Setup Your Own Aquarium
So you are interested in buy and setting up your own aquarium. Well before you rush off and start spending any money I think it would be sensible to understand a few basic about owning fish, the types of fish you want to keep and a few points of setting up your aquarium.
Lets start with one of the most important questions when it comes to fish care. Do you want a fresh water or salt water aquarium? The differences between the two are quite wide and its important you understand them. The differences are not based solely on cost but cover things such are day to day activities maintenance and fish care.
Lets take a few minutes to look at the differences in tank types. On the one hand you have the freshwater fish tanks such as Cichild Tanks, African Cichlid, planted tanks, brackish tanks and predator tanks.
On the saltwater fish side we have fish tanks with names such as: FOWLR tanks, this stands for Fish Only with Live Rock, Reef Tanks and Fish-Only tanks. Your experience and knowledge is something to take into account with these tanks as they vary in cost and maintenance requirements. If you are looking for a low cost and low maintenance start up tanks then we would suggest you consider the Fish-Only tanks.
If you are feeling a little more adventurous then we would recommend the FOWLR tanks which could be considered medium cost and maintenance with the reef tanks being the most work and most expensive. There is another tank that is gaining popularity with customers and that is the refugiums. These tanks are saltwater tanks and have many benefits over other tanks.
So what are the costs associated with the initial setup of a these two types of tank? Well to give you some idea of cost for the initial setup, we based are findings on a 29 gallon aquarium. It is also important that you understand that this is only a rough estimate as prices and product variations can make a difference to the overall price.
Saltwater Fish and the aquariums required to maintain them requires a little more equipment than fresh water fish aquariums. Its important to invest in a saltwater test kit to make the environment your fish are in is suitable for a healthy population. The list of available test for your aquarium is long and can be confusing as shown by the list below.
This is a sample of the chemicals you can test for and the types of test kits you can buy including: copper, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, ammonia, iron and carbon dioxide, nitrites, pH, carbonate, water hardness, alkalinity levels, chlorine and chloramines, salinity and specific, gravity, phosphates.
The most obvious thing to do if you are new to fish care and aquariums is to buy a master test kit. This type of kit contains many of the more popular chemical test required for a healthy fish population and should be sufficient for most aquariums.
Other things that need to be taken into account are protein skimmers (used to extract the dissolved wastes that build up in your aquarium) and live rock. Its important that you spend a little time and look for good quality live rock as it can be used as a natural filtration system for your aquariums and could even replace your external filter in many cases.
Ensure that your aquarium water supply is changed on a regular basis. One of the most important jobs for any new aquarium keeper is to ensure that you setup a water changing schedule and make sure you stick to it. Nothing affects your fish more than a badly maintained water source. And remember if you have a saltwater tank you need to make sure you mix the new saltwater a couple of days before you intend changing the water to allow it to settle in.
A good rule of thumb when deciding on fresh water or salt water fish is that saltwater fish are around 20-25% more expensive than freshwater fish. So make you factor this into your decision when choosing your fish and size of tank.
Another good point to keep in mind is that any new fish should be kept separate to your existing stock for a while to ensure that you do not bring parasites or other issues and diseases into your fish stock from outside. A good quarantine tank is something you should invest in if you intend buying and changing you fish on a regular basis.
So, to sum up, it is more expensive and time consuming to start off with to keep saltwater fish than freshwater fish. But it is not that simple because overtime and once your aquarium as had time to settle in then the saltwater fish become less work and easier to maintain. So if you are prepared to put the hard work in at the beginning the results for saltwater fish can be good with the water quality last longer. So take the plunge and enjoy your fish whichever you decide on.
About the Author FishCare.com is a website designed to help you buy and maintain your freshwater and saltwater fish. You will find many useful articles and advice on all manner of subjects associated with Fish Care, Aquariums and Fish Tanks at our site: FishCare.com
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