Whitehall Garden Centres Blog

Welcome to Whitehall Garden Centres Blog. We aim to provide you with hints, tips, information and advice on all aspects of gardening! It is a chance for you to ask us questions and to read our blog posts about what you should be doing in your garden each month.

Monday 4 May 2009

Setting Up a Tropical Fish Tank


Its not just plants we offer at Whitehall. We have a fantastic aquatic and reptile centre and here are some tips they have given us when setting up a tropical fish tank.


If you are new to keeping fish it is a good idea to talk to the people in an aquatics centre. The first thing you need to do is buy a tank and decide what fish you would like to keep. The size of the tank will determine how many fish you can keep depending on their size. You should also find out how big the fish grow to, to make sure you have room for them as they get bigger. When you have your tank, the position you put it in is rather important. It should be quiet, away from sources of hot and cold, easily accessed to water for when you are changing the water, away from direct sunlight and away from any hazards.

Once you have got a good position for your tank it is time to buy the right equipment for it. There are three main items of equipment that you should buy, these are: filter, heater and light system. The Filter removes toxic ammonia and solid waste from the aquarium making it a healthy environment. The heater controls the temperature in the tank which is important to the well being of fish. The light system can promote plant growth and lets you see in!

Once you have all of the above in place you can add decoration to your tank, this will give the fish things to hide and swim in and make it astatically pleasing. Also the bottom of the tank should be covered in a layer of gravel or aquarium sand.

Now everything is in position it is time to fill your tank up! Never use mineral water, rainwater or water from a household softener to fill in your tank. Tap water is usually fine however it will have to be neutralised to get rid of chlorine and heavy metals. Tetra Aquasafe can be added to the tap water and be added every time a water change is done. Once it is filled up your filter and heater should be turned on and the thermometer added.

When it is stable Tetra Bactozym should be added to the tank to promote the development of good filter bacteria. After about 2 days the first fish can be added. The tank should be stocked slowly to allow the filter bacteria to cope with the amount of ammonia.

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