5 things every aquarium owner needs
1. A gravel cleaner
An aquarium gravel cleaner is probably the single most useful thing you can buy for your fish tank. These gadgets allow you to remove dirt-laden water from out of your aquarium gravel and can keep the substrate spotless and the tank sparkling clean and free of nuisance algae.
Although you can buy electric gravel cleaners, such as the Aquarium Systems Hang On Vac or the Eheim Battery Vac, it's often the most simple gravel cleaners that work best. The Fluval Easy Clean Gravel Cleaner is one of the best, and it costs just £6.19 from www.swelluk.com. For something you should use every time you do your weekly partial water change, that's great value.
2. Test kits
A lot of fishkeepers can think of aquarium water test kits as an optional extra, but they're actually really important, particularly in the early stages of aquarium ownership. You'll definitely benefit from ammonia, nitrite and nitrite kits during the cycling stages, but a pH kit is also a must, too.
You can buy aquarium test kits individually or save money by purchasing a master kit which includes several. The API Liquid Freshwater Test Kit is a good one and includes enough reagent to last you a very long time, even with regular testing.
3. Great advice
With so many aquarium fish species available and so much to learn, it's important that you get good impartial advice from the start. Forums can be an excellent source of information, but one of the most consistently reliable is the UK magazine Practical Fishkeeping whose experts tell it how it is, have oodles of knowledge and keep well up to date with the latest trends.
4. Patience
You'll quickly go wrong if you're the impatient type. The early weeks of aquarium ownership are also the most complicated and if you get duff advice or add fish before your tank has been cycled you're going to be in for trouble. As are your fish. Take things slowly to start with, cycle the tank the modern and ethical fishless way and don't add any fish until your test kits show that the water is pollution free.
5. Dechlorinator
Chlorine is added to our tapwater to kill bacteria and make it safe for us to drink, but this chemical and the related compound chloramine, will also kill your friendly aquarium filter bacteria. If the bacteria are killed off, your water quality will quickly deteriorate resulting in sick fish. Thankfully, it's dead easy to remove chlorine and chloramine using dechlorinators or water conditioner such as Tetra Aqua Safe.
An aquarium gravel cleaner is probably the single most useful thing you can buy for your fish tank. These gadgets allow you to remove dirt-laden water from out of your aquarium gravel and can keep the substrate spotless and the tank sparkling clean and free of nuisance algae.
Although you can buy electric gravel cleaners, such as the Aquarium Systems Hang On Vac or the Eheim Battery Vac, it's often the most simple gravel cleaners that work best. The Fluval Easy Clean Gravel Cleaner is one of the best, and it costs just £6.19 from www.swelluk.com. For something you should use every time you do your weekly partial water change, that's great value.
2. Test kits
A lot of fishkeepers can think of aquarium water test kits as an optional extra, but they're actually really important, particularly in the early stages of aquarium ownership. You'll definitely benefit from ammonia, nitrite and nitrite kits during the cycling stages, but a pH kit is also a must, too.
You can buy aquarium test kits individually or save money by purchasing a master kit which includes several. The API Liquid Freshwater Test Kit is a good one and includes enough reagent to last you a very long time, even with regular testing.
3. Great advice
With so many aquarium fish species available and so much to learn, it's important that you get good impartial advice from the start. Forums can be an excellent source of information, but one of the most consistently reliable is the UK magazine Practical Fishkeeping whose experts tell it how it is, have oodles of knowledge and keep well up to date with the latest trends.
4. Patience
You'll quickly go wrong if you're the impatient type. The early weeks of aquarium ownership are also the most complicated and if you get duff advice or add fish before your tank has been cycled you're going to be in for trouble. As are your fish. Take things slowly to start with, cycle the tank the modern and ethical fishless way and don't add any fish until your test kits show that the water is pollution free.
5. Dechlorinator
Chlorine is added to our tapwater to kill bacteria and make it safe for us to drink, but this chemical and the related compound chloramine, will also kill your friendly aquarium filter bacteria. If the bacteria are killed off, your water quality will quickly deteriorate resulting in sick fish. Thankfully, it's dead easy to remove chlorine and chloramine using dechlorinators or water conditioner such as Tetra Aqua Safe.
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