Freshwater aquarium
advice before starting

Part 1 Notions aquarium equipment, drawings, pics, tips, tricks.

exotic freshwater aquarium.

freshwater aquarium, advice, balance, plants, sand, stones, fish.
Oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, bacteria.
air, air pumps, aeration, diffuser, filter, filtration, filter media. Maintenance, siphoning water change.
Sand filtration, activated carbon.
Temperature, thermometer, thermostat, heating.
Light, lighting, algae, clean glass, scrapers, squeegees.

For a good balance.
1 small fish =
4 liters(1 gallon) of water
1 to 3 cm(1 inch) sand
1 aquatic plant
1 stone
light.

Food.
And also feed the fish but moderately.
Food should never fall to the bottom.
Food flakes on sale in the aquarist shops.

How big, how much volume an aquarium?
Naturally this exotic fish (Guppy) feels alone and abandoned, that is why we buy or manufacture larger fish tank.
The bigger the fish tank is, the easier the equilibrium is reached.
According to the calculation of 1 little adult fish (1-1,5 inch) for 4 liters water we can not put more that 25 (small) fishes in a tank of 100 liters.    (Don't forget that fish grow)
But we can put a lot more if we add filtration and aeration. (Bubbler)
Of course, the fewer fish, the fewer problems there will be, fights, pollution, disease, death. This is true for small fish in our rivers as well as for freshwater exotic fish .
Larger fishes = larger aquariums.
  Recommended minimum size of aquarium:
    40 cm length = volume of 20 liters.
          (16 inch)          (5 gallon)
    50 cm length = volume of 40 liters.
           (20 inch)           (10 gallon)

Lighting.
A small aquarium can run alone near a window (not in the sun, cooking risk), but a medium or large aquarium must imperatively have artificial lighting in addition, at least 12 hours of light per day to grow plants .

How to create and make a new balanced aquarium

Cycles oxygen - carbon dioxide - nitrogen

design drawings pictures pics.

Water aeration.
In a small fish tank there is no problem of aeration.
In the day, plants absorb carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted at night by plants and bacteria, and they release the necessary oxygen for the survival of fish and bacteria.
In a large fish tank that is often crowded and not enough planted, we have to add at least an air pump to blow bubbles with a diffuser to circulate the water.
Thus the water in contact with the surface of the air becomes laden with oxygen.

Fertilizer. Waste, excrement (feces) = fertilizer.
Do not apply fertilizer, ground or compost in your aquarium to grow your plants.
By excrement (feces), fish give (provide) fertilizer to the plants. Everywhere in the aquarium there are necessary bacteria which are of different types, and which transform waste and excreta in ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which are assimilated by plants.
If fish eat plants the loop is closed (cycle).

Water pollution. Solution = bacteria + oxygen

Bacteria.
Bacteria are essential for the proper operation of the tank, they are necessary to balance, without them life would quickly be impossible, there would be pollution, intoxication, poisoning, death.
These bacteria also need oxygen just like fish, and since bacteria live largely in the sand, the sand must be aerated, not too fine grain, otherwise there is asphyxia of soil and bacteria.
If the sand becomes black in depth, and remains dark even when stirred, and moreover if it smells like rotten egg, it means that the sand was not enough aerated and that bacteria have not been doing their job.

Pumps.

   There are several types of pumps.
Air pumps   used to bubble through a diffuser, it can be used as decoration (bubbles) or for stirring the water which can oxygenate water in a medium or small aquarium.
These pumps are located outside of the aquarium.
Water pumps. In large aquariums bubblers or diffusers are not enough to stir the water.
This is why we use powerful water pumps that are often submerged in the aquarium, and which draw water from the bottom to the top.
This makes the aquarium more alive by stirring plants and soft corals in a saltwater aquarium and it is primarily used to oxygenate the water which is oxygenated by contact with the surface air .
In principle, these pumps are not bubblers.
Plants and corals benefit more and grow much faster in brewed water than in stagnant water where there is almost no exchange between water and plants.
Water pumps in filters. These are water pumps mounted on filters that are mostly out of the aquarium. They make no bubbles.
  A filter must run continuously every days 24 hours a day, except when cleaning.
(For not to asphyxiate the bacteria in the filter, which could cause water pollution.)

Air pump. Filter.

Air pump, air stone.
There are all sorts of air pumps in the shops, more or less good, great and small.
A pump may serve at the same time for a bubble diffuser ( air stone) and filter through derivations in shape of "T" or crosswise and valves or air taps to regulate the flow.

Non-return valve.
When you stop a pump it may happen that the aquarium water rises in the air pipe, and creates a flood.
To avoid this we put a non-water return valve.

The filter.
In a crowded aquarium, waste, wilted leaves, uneaten food, feces accumulate faster than nature can recycle.
So we must give boost by putting a biological filter.
The filter can be purchased or homemade.

Non-return
valve.
<------

The filter media, filtering mass.
It can be porous ceramic, thick nylon threads, synthetic wadding and activated charcoal .
It should never be washed with tap water but with the aquarium water.
Filtration materials as well as the sand or gravel must always contain bacteria after washing otherwise it can no longer play its role in waste transformation.

D I Y Filter.
hover with mouse

homemade filter.
to tinker yourself

Filtration in sand.

Sand filtration, on sand or under sand
There is another method of filtration, it is the sand filtering.
Using a perforated rigid plastic slab that is placed under the sand of the aquarium.
It can be bought, and it is cut to measure.
Naturally, the sand grain must be large enough for not passing through the holes of the grid.
I used this method for a time but I stopped because I found the system a bit too weak and there was too much accumulation of waste in the sand and under the grid (after one year).
For the under-sand filtration, the direction is reversed by injecting the water to be filtered under the grid, water will be filtered by going up through the sand.
A filter must run continuously every days 24 hours a day, except when cleaning.

synthetic
wadding

big nylon
threads

We can tinker all kinds of filters.
Here is one made with a jar of jam, a big plastic pipe and a small air pipe to run the whole.
The filtering mass is still the same as described above.

Activated carbon (charcoal) filtration.
After some time the water contains harmful dissolved gases.
This can be remedied by filtering a few days on activated charcoal, it also gives water its crystalline clarity.
The activated charcoal should always be placed at the end of filtration, at the filter exit, where water is already clean otherwise the pores of activated carbon would quickly clogged.
Activated charcoal is active only some time depending on using, after this time it should be thrown.

Operating time of a filter, how long must run a filter.
A filter should work continuously all day, 24 hours on 24 except when cleaning.
If a filter is stopped it is no more oxygenated, and there is risk of bacteria asphyxiation, the filter could then create pollution.

Change the water. Siphoning.

Siphoning

Siphoning
Sand cleaning .
Despite all filtrations, waste accumulate on the floor and in the sand.
Then we have to intervene manually by siphoning waste on the ground + a part of sand to wash it.
Do not wash the sand with the tap water, but with water siphoned of the aquarium, mind the bacteria which are in the sand and must remain alive.

  Water change in aquarium.

  why?   because with the time the aquarium water is too loaded with nitrate
  When  should you change the water? Everything depends on the number of inhabitants in your aquarium and the amount of food that you throw in your aquarium.
  How much? Water changes are 1/10th per week otherwise 1 time per month and maximum 1/5th of volume. The days after water changes, the plants grow twice faster due to mineral content in fresh water. If you are using tap water let it first rest one day in a bucket with a bubbler to allow the chlorine to evaporate maximum.
Nobody likes chlorine, neither the fish, nor the plants, or the bacteria.
How to change the water   in the aquarium?
With a simple flexible plastic pipe found in aquarium shops, water is siphoned into a bucket. See the drawing.
Big pipe for drain and siphoning.
Small pipe for adding water.

add slowly water

One way to add slowly water in the aquarium is to proceed as in the drawing, thus the fishes will not be too shocked by the difference between the old water and the new water.
The difference is not always in the temperature, but also in the water hardness or its pH (acidity or alkalinity of the water).

Thermometers Thermostats Heating for aquariums.

leaded
thermometers

digital
thermometers

thermostat
+ Heating.

Heating.

thermostat

Temperature - thermometers.
A thermometer can be very useful in an exotic aquarium.
In a room where the temperature is not stabilized, temperature differences can be huge.
Some exotic ( or tropical ) fish like a precise temperature in warm water, a guppy will be comfortable around 25° Celcius, (77° Fahrenheit) while a molly wants 28°C (82°F) and a neon (hyphesobricon) prefers 22°C (72°F).
Aquarium thermometers contain lead shot for ballast, allowing them to stand at the bottom.
Attention all thermometers are not accurate, when purchasing they should be compared.
Digital thermometers.
They are self-sealing, to be stuck on a side glass outside the aquarium.
Their lifetime is variable depending on the quality between 1 and 20 years and more.

température
setting

thermostat

combined thermostat
+ Heating.

temperature setting

heating

Heating.
To heat the aquarium water, it is added a heating resistor that is imperatively coupled with a thermostat, otherwise there is a risk of boiling for the fishes. We want warm water, not too hot water.
You can buy the heating and the thermostat separately or the two combined into one.
If you buy the thermostat separately, it can be connected several small heaters at once if it is permitted by the thermostat , check the supported power when purchasing.
You can even plug in the light of the aquarium if it is feared that the lighting heats the aquarium water too much.
This happens sometimes in the summer.

Light.
On average it needs two fluorescent tubes 20-watt each for an aquarium of about 100 liters, and three tubes for a fish tank of 180 liters.
But it depends on what you put into it. Fish such as Killies (aphyosémions) do not like light too much .
And if you want to plant intensively as a Dutch aquarium ( the aquarium floor is covered with more than 80% of plants,) it will require a lot of light up to 16 hours of lighting.
Avoid exposing the aquarium in the sun, lest seeing your aquarium glass quickly covered with algae.
There are fluorescent tubes specially designed for aquariums, some make well bring out colors and others are designed to make better grow the plants.

Algae.
A blessing for some and a curse for others, algae are very controversial, there are pros and cons.
Some algae prove that the aquarium is alive and in good health, health that naturally affects on fish. If you look algae closely, you found also the phytoplankton and zooplankton, which can only be beneficial to fish.
If algae grow excessively on the aquarium glasses despite a good planting of aquatic plants, there may be a nitrate pollution, you must change a little more water, and you may also give less to eat to the fishes.
This happens when there are more fish than plants.
Algae are often associated with the color of fluorescent tubes, sometimes just change the tube to see some algae disappearing and others appearing.

squeegee
with felt

squeegee with
razor blades

scrapers
with magnet

Squeegee scrapers to remove algae, to clean glasses.
Found in the aquarium shops, scrapers and squeegees or handles fitted with a razor blade to clean fish tank glass of their algae.
Razor blades scrapes even the limestone deposited on the glass.
There are also magnets mounted with scrapers, they are two magnets, one mounted with a felt, which is placed on the glass on the outside and the other mounted whith a scraper, which is placed inside.
By moving, the outer magnet displaces the inner magnet which cleans the glass.
Often a rod (curtain rod) mounted with a piece of felt is sufficient.

The dip nets.
These nets are instruments of torture for the fish, to be used sparingly.
Sometimes it is impossible to catch a fish, the fishes feel which one you want to catch, then it is better to surprise them in the morning when they are not yet awakened.

fossilized wood

quartz stone

quartz sand

Stones.
There are several kinds of stones to put in an aquarium.
Petrified wood, quartz stones, limestone, lava rock, check that they are smooth and not rough and cutting because the fish love sometimes rubbing against the stones and they risk to be hurt .
A hurt fish becomes infected and dies.
Therefore all stones like dead corals, extremely sharp and fatal for freshwater fish, are excluded.

Calcareous stones.
The calcareous stones help to raise the pH of water, which corresponds to more alkalinity and less acidity.
They are therefore not suitable for acidic water aquariums. For instance for neon tetra fish.(PH less than 7)

Exotic warm freshwater aquarium of 100 liters, in the beginning, medium-grained quartz sand.
Too thin grains prevent sand to breathe.
Petrified wood stones, quartz stones, lava rocks, 10 kinds of different plants.

Dutch style planted aquarium

warm fresh water

Ph : 6,8-7
Kh : (tap water)
Temperature : 25°
Filtration synthetic wadding.

Suitable for many small exotic fish.

IMPORTANT, When, after how many days can I put fish in my new aquarium ?
Not before have past the critical period: the rise of nitrites (danger). See nitrogen cycle.
Two weeks or more, it is very important to read the following pages.

go to: nitrites.

Part 2
Create. Boot. Lay out, develop the aquarium.
Installation. What kind of water must you choose?
The hardness of the water. The pH.