Essential Tips for Setting Up Your First Aquarium

When starting a new aquarium whether it is your first time or tenth aquarium you will always need to figure out a few key things first:

• Where is the aquarium going to sit? 
• How big do you want the aquarium?
• Is the aquarium going to be a coldwater, tropical or saltwater aquarium?
  
• What is your budget, how much money can you afford to spend on the aquarium setup?
  

All these questions are things only you can answer. Too often I have people come into the shop and I ask them all these questions with most people unable to give me the answers. There is so many things I can help you with in the shop, but these decisions are what you will need to make.

Once you have figured out what size aquarium and where it is going to be in your home or office you can now start the design and research phase. This phase is the most exciting, because now you can start to think about what could be possible and play around with different ideas. For example. Do you want your aquarium to be a bright colourful tank with the focus on the fish and colourful ornaments and plastic plants? Or maybe you want to create something natural where the fish are matched with natural wood and or rocks and live aquarium plants? Maybe you want to try your hand at designing a tropical underwater aquascape garden? 

No matter how much experience you have with aquariums the research and design stage will be the key to your success and getting the aquarium of your dreams.

Technical time and this will be where you start to understand water chemistry. Aquariums are simply where you are trying to recreate a piece of nature in a glass tank, and this is not easy to do if you want it to look as natural as you can. Understanding water chemistry is just as important as choosing the right types of fish. Understanding this will require using test kits to give you information about what your aquarium water is like and if it is ok and safe for your fish to live in the water.

Feeding your new aquarium fish is just as important as knowing your aquariums water chemistry because if you are not feeding the right food this can cause many problems in your aquarium:

• Poor fish health and condition.
• Water quality can be affected and turn bad and toxic.
• Growth of excess unsightly algae.
• Need for more frequent and large water changes.
• Sometimes death can be a result of not choosing the correct food.

Ok so you have setup your beautiful aquarium and now it is about maintaining what you have created. In the shop I give all my customers this advice about maintaining their aquarium. There are many things you can get bogged down and carried away with keeping an aquarium but my secret to a beautiful and healthy aquarium is clean water and excellent quality fish food. Worrying about the water’s pH and testing for a million things that might or might not be wrong can give you a sleepiness night sleep. Once your aquarium is set up your fish and plants will tell you if something is not right and that is when you will need to test your water.

Written by Amanda Czarnuszewicz

Who is Amanda Czarnuszewicz

I have been keeping fish since a young child, everything from freshwater Goldfish and Cichlids to marine reef tanks. Over 11 years ago I discovered freshwater dwarf shrimp and took a keen interest immediately. I started breeding and sourcing products over seas to maintain all types of shrimp which was the start of my business Shrimplovers. Today my passion for all things aquatic is still a true obsession.  Getting to work in a job that is also my hobby gives me great joy.