Aquarium Water Testing & Tank Maintenance


A Note on Cycling

Every new aquarium must go through a "cycling" period before it is ready for a full load of fish. Cycling is the natural process during which beneficial nitrifying bacteria colonize on and activate your biological filtration. These bacteria are essential in breaking down harmful compounds and waste bi-products keeping your tank chemistry stable and ideal for maintaining fish, inverts and plants. We recommend that you do not add your primary aquarium livestock before your tank is completely cycled. Please check out our guide to the Nitrogen Cycle for additional details.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Additives and Supplements

Your water test results may show that you need to adjust the chemistry with an additive or supplement to reach ideal parameters. Supplementing trace elements and buffering your pH or hardness are also important aspects of maintaining an ideal environment for your fish.
Read more

Additional Equipment

We recommend adding the following products to your aquarium maintenance kit. While not essential, these tools to help make everyday aquarium maintenance less of a chore: • A net and/or specimen container – these tools allow you to safely catch, inspect and transport livestock as necessary. • A gravel siphon is an efficient way to remove water from the tank and remove debris from the substrate. Some models come with a short length of tubing for water removal only, while some kits come with parts that adapt the hose for refill as well. • Algae Magnets & Scrapers are great for daily glass clean-up. Some have magnetic pieces that allow you to clean the glass without getting wet. • Acclimation kit and bucket - for safe and proper acclimation of new fish and inverts. A dedicated, clean 5-gallon bucket serves many purposes when you maintain any aquarium. • Aqua gloves prevent cuts and scrapes in addition to keeping arms and sleeves dry.
Read more