Tropical Fish Tanks - How To Deal With Aquarium Algae

Algae grow easily in the aquarium tanks, especially on the walls. You can remove them by periodically scraping the sides of the tank. Don’t forget to also scrub the rocks. Bleach the rocks if the algae insist to stick to the rock. Be careful about bleaching because it can be toxic for fish.

If you also notice algae on the sand or on the plastic plants, you can remove them also but it will take some energy. You will need to wash the gravel in a lot of water and then rinse it.

But try to reduce the cause and not the symptom. Algae grow in excess if they have too much light. Reduce the light level first and use more natural light rather than the artificial one.

On the market, in pet shops, there are also some algae treatments, like the use of algaecide, which will help you solve the problem. But don’t abuse of this treatment. It can harm the fish and even kill them! Don’t expect the problem to disappear over night if you use this treatment.

You will never believe that adding natural aquatic plants control the algae growth. It is quite effective. For example, luxuriant plants grow and they filter out the light. Without a lot of light, the algae are kept in control. Plants also absorb chemicals from the water like nitrates.
Breeders say a tank should have around 50 small plants per square root of space.

Now you know what to do in order to take care of your tank and have healthy and beautiful fish. Other articles will follow with more advice on how to deal with algae.

Tropical fish Tanks Guide to Lighting and Plants

Aquarium plants play multiple roles in the tank life: they decorate the aquarium and make it look beautiful, they are an attraction for the fish and some of them help regulate the oxygen level.

While completing the aquarium structure with plants, it is good to know a few facts.

One of them is to keep in mind that plants should decorate the aquarium but, at the same time, leave enough space for the fish to swim. For example, the feathery plants look much better when there are many of them in small clumps. This makes them seem like bushes. The tall, grassy type is better to be placed in rows.

Planting rooted plants into the tank sand can be done like this:
1. hold the tips of the bunch of roots between the thumb and second finger
2. put the rest into the sand
3. push the upper part of the roots with the first finger approximately 2cm into the sand
4. scrape some sand over the uncovered parts of the roots with the thumb and second finger

The same method is applied when planting rootless plants. The lower ends of the stems are squeezed together and treated like they were roots.

Another aspect is the water level in the tank. The water surface should be just up to the lower edge of the top angle iron of the tank. If the water level is bellow the top angle iron, the aquarium will look like a water container. Ideal is that when somebody looks at the aquarium from the front, that person should imagine that there is no water there and fish are swimming freely.

The lighting in the aquarium is also a vital element for the fish health and a key factor if you want to grow plants. The lack of light damages the plants and also causes the fish to lose their color: red can turn into pink and green to white.

You can choose natural light or artificial light or even a combination of both. If you want to expose the tank to just natural light, place it near the window that’s facing north. But if you want artificial light, you can choose between incandescent or fluorescent light. Whatever the type is, you must also be careful about the amount of light you have in your tank. Too much light can make the water green and too little will not help them grow. Most of the times, adjusting the light level is a mater of multiple trials and tests.

The lighting system should be made of wood and placed above the tank. Some of the most spectacular aquariums have the light placed behind.

Also, if there is no natural light during the day, leave the artificial light turned on. Fish breeders recommend that the aquarium is lightened for about eight hours a day. If after a few days you see that the water is turning green, reduce the amount of hours to 6 or 7.

Tropical Aquarium - What is the Best Type of Filter for a Beginner?

From the point of view of satisfactory service over a long period of time, an outside filter is the most satisfactory. Hanging in the rear and outside of the aquarium, outside filters are easily concealed yet readily serviceable.

By their very nature, filters become the repository of all the waste and filth in the tank. They should be cleaned every two weeks, on the average, to remove this waste matter. An outside filter is the easiest to disconnect and remove to be cleaned. Also, it can be examined easily to determine the amount of accumulated dirt. If the tank is located where it does not permit the hanging of a filter on the outside, however, it is necessary to employ an inside

The air lift filter is a closed plastic box containing the filtering material. The air-lift tube is straight, instead of curved, and is set in the middle of the filter in the filtering material. This type of filter has perforated sides and rests on the bottom of the aquarium, usually at the rear. The air-lift draws the water from the center. New water comes in through the perforations and passes through the filter material as it makes its way toward the center.

A bottom filter is frequently used by dealers for several reasons. It requires a lesser amount of air than do outside ones. Many dealers have their tanks banked closely together, and do not have space between them for outside filters. Also, bottom filters double as aerators. The stream of air agitates the water as it rises, serving to aerate and circulate the fluid.

Against this, however, is the reluctance on the part of a fancier to disturb a tank once it is set up. There is a tendency to let a bottom filter remain without cleaning for months on end, until it becomes a focal point for pollution. Far from serving as a cleansing agent, it becomes a menace. The same holds true of the other types of filters, but to a far lesser degree, because there is much less tendency to neglect them.

Because under-gravel filters have disadvantages, I usually recommend that they be used in conjunction with a good outside filter. Thus several areas will be served, and there will be less likelihood of difficulty if the under-gravel filter clogs up.

What is the Best Location for a Tropical Fish Aquarium Pump?

It is usually advisable to have the pump at a higher level than the tank. This will prevent any possibility of a siphoning action draining the water from the tank back into the pump. Pump platforms are available for pump placement. These are small plastic or metal shelves designed to hold the pump while hanging on the back of a tank.

If it is desirable to place the pump on the floor, or on any level below the level of the tank, there are several precautions to be observed: Backflow seldom starts while the pump is in operation; it is when the pump is not operating that the greatest danger occurs. Backflow may be started by several actions.

(1) The tendency of water to rise in a narrow tube is known as capillary action. If the water in the tank is very close to the top, it is possible for water to rise in the air tube by capillary action to a point where it starts a downward flow and a siphoning action occurs.

(2) The cooling down of a warm pump can cause the air inside to contract and draw the water down.

(3) Over- oiling the pump can cause excess oil to enter the lines. Air pressure will keep the oil clinging to the inside walls of the vertical tubing, but with the air pressure removed; the oil starts to run back. As it collects in droplets, a vacuum is created behind it strong enough to start a siphoning action.

In order to prevent this, keep a small surgical type “C” clamp handy. When, for any reason, the pump is shut off, clamp shut the line leading to the pump. Also shut all air valves tightly. Whenever oil or moisture is seen in a tube, discard that piece of tubing. It is also a good idea to clean the pump when excess oil appears in the line.

Aquarium Plants

Under the influence of sunlight, plants and only plants have the ability to manufacture their own food. These green plants combine water and carbon dioxide to form sugars in a process known as “photosynthesis.”

During this process, free oxygen is released in excess of that used by the plant for respiration. This occurs only under the influence of bright light. At other times, the plant breathes normally, consuming oxygen and giving off carbon dioxide. Photosynthesis occurs only when the plant in light is healthy and growing.

Light, then, is essential to your aquarium so that the plants will grow properly and give off oxygen and consume carbon dioxide. The “wonder material” that regulates the food manufacturing process is chlorophyll - the material that gives plants their green color.

There is a good deal of controversy concerning the amount of oxygen that the aquarium plants actually supply for fishes to use.

It should be remembered that water can dissolve only a certain amount of oxygen; any excess oxygen is therefore released at the surface. It is not stored in the water for later use as the fishes require it. Carbon dioxide is released and oxygen is taken into the water. The process can be hastened by bubbling stream of air through the water. This tends to agitate the water and increase the area exposed to the surface in proportion to the amount of circulation engendered. Manual stirring of the water serves the same purpose, but it is not so convenient a method as the mechanical one.

The greater the area of the exposed-to-air water surface, the faster oxygen will be taken in and carbon dioxide released. The greater the air surface, the more fishes can be kept in a given volume of water. You do not really increase the capacity of the fish tank to hold fishes simply by raising the height of the water in the tank. You must also increase the other dimensions in proportion.

Probably the same number of fishes could be maintained in a bare aquarium as in one with plants. Then, you may ask, why bother with aquarium plants? Well, plants serve many functions besides the disputed one of oxygenating. The principal function is an esthetic one: there would not be much beauty to a tank without plants. They provide an excellent background against which your colorful fishes will display themselves to best advantage.

Should I have a mirror, paint, or “decal” back to my aquarium?

Most tropical fishes are quite thin, and their colors are so delicate that they appear at their prettiest against a background that permits light to enter only from the front and top of the tank. Even when the aquarium is against a wall, light reflection will bounce in. Either a mirror or an aquarium “decal” will provide a decorative background and prevent light from entering the rear. Crystal paint may also be used.

Crystal paint is so called because it tends to crystallize and form patterns as it dries; it is the least expensive background. For best results, the aquarium should be painted while it is empty so that the surface to be covered can be placed horizontally flat. Pour the paint on the back and spread it out with a small brush, pad of absorbent cotton, or even a piece of cardboard used as a sweep. Do not stroke it thin. Only one coat can be applied. The material is fast-drying and usually becomes tacky in an hour or two. However, do not try to rush drying by putting it in the sun or near a fan. Too rapid drying prevents crystallization and the formation of a pattern.

If you want to remove the paint, soak several pieces of newspaper with water and stick them to the paint. After soaking five to ten minutes, the paint can easily be scraped off. Crystal paint is available in a variety of colors. A medium shade of green is by far the most popular. New spray cans of crystal paint enable you to apply this beautiful design to a tank already set up.

“Decals” or transfers are available in a diversity of patterns, many of them quite attractive. Mirrors, cut to size and taped against the back of the tank, are very attractive. They give an illusion of greater size. It is impractical to have an aquarium made with a mirror back, also there is no particular visual advantage in this, and it is more expensive. Moreover, when the mirror tarnishes (it inevitably will), there is no way of replacing it.

For a tank located in a sunny window, a light background is best. A tank with a light background will remain 10° to 15° cooler than one with a dark background. A sunshade placed a few inches behind the aquarium is more effective in deflecting the heat than one that is right up against the tank.

Heating Your Aquarium

Because aquarium fishes are usually referred to as “tropical” fishes, the idea has become erroneously established that they require high temperatures for survival. The truth is that 75° F. is warm enough for tropical fishes, with rare exceptions. In fact many of our aquarium inhabitants are only semi-tropical; and will thrive in even lower temperatures.

Your main concern should be with temperature extremes and temperature fluctuations. Too extreme a fluctuation, even within the favorable range, can lead to difficulty. Fluctuation even within the fishes’ range is the problem that is usually the most difficult to solve. For example most tropical fish are comfortable within a low of 70° F. and a high of 85″ F.; 75° F. is considered ideal. But suppose that the tank’s position is near a radiator, or in a sunlit area, or that the wattage of the reflector bulbs is too high. Any one of these could cause the temperature to rise to 85″ F. during the daytime. These sources of heat are not present during the night and the tank’s temperature may drop to 70° F. This gives a fluctuation of 15° F. in twenty-four I hours. Fishes continually forced to adjust themselves to such temperature changes are under a definite strain; they become weakened and subject to disease.

Considering the abuses to which they are frequently subjected by well-meaning fanciers, they are remarkably hardy. I have seen fishes subjected to such extreme cold hat they floated torpid and, to all appearances, lifeless at the surface. When warmed up - and in these cases If was a fairly rapid warming - they recovered promptly and vigorously. Moreover, fishes seem to be capable of swimming without difficulty through strata of water at different temperatures. A reflector might raise the water’s surface temperature 5° or 6° higher than the bottom temperature, yet the fishes swim up and down with no sign of discomfort.

There is a school of thought which holds that it is necessary for the temperature to fluctuate a few degrees between day and night in order to more closely duplicate f he fishes’ natural environment. This hardly seems necessary. Inhabitants of aquariums with controlled temperature fluctuation appear to be in no better condition than I hose in aquariums maintained at a constant temperature.

Aquarium Ornaments

Aquarium ornaments are used to decorate the tank for yourself, not so much for the benefit of the fish. The ornaments can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, both small and big, caricature or traditional, complicated or very simple. You have the option to create them yourself or to buy one of the thousands of models that can be found in pet stores.

You can’t use ornaments in every tank though, as some fish don’t enjoy their presence. For example, Oscar fish prefer their tank to be ornament and plant free. In other cases, they are needed by fish to hide behind or under them. Traditionally, most ornaments will look like ships or castles and they can be used by small fish to hide from bigger ones. Another advantage is that fish can play inside them.

You can buy ornaments for aquariums from most fish or pet stores. You can find both cheap and expensive ornaments in these shops. You can find ornaments that are quite detailed and made to look like they’re branches that have weeds attached. In some cases, fish will need their aquarium to look like their home in the wild, and proper ornaments can be important in their case.

Having amphibians inside the aquarium means that an ornament that looks like a waterfall and has a small bathing pool on the bottom might be nice to have, as they will bath in it. Make sure the aquarium has plenty of greenery inside if you have amphibians in it, so it looks like it’s their home.

It’s not hard finding the right ornaments for your tank and they’re easy to put inside. If you can, make sure that the ornaments fit with the natural habitat of the fish you have inside. If you have a goldfish it doesn’t matter, but for other types of fish it does. In the aquarium of a goldfish you can use all types of ornaments, no matter how funny.

The importance of aeration for tropical fish

Everyone knows that the natural habitat for fish is a lake or rivers. Both have large surfaces where fish can get to receive their oxygen supply. As you can guess, an aquarium doesn’t offer fish the same possibilities when it comes to water surface. The habitat has less movement and the surface area where they can get oxygen is smaller. That’s why it’s important to make sure that fish can get oxygen from other sources as well.

Aeration is the artificial oxygen providing process. The process consists only of re-oxygenating the aquarium water. The system used for aeration usually consists of airstone, regulator diffusers or tubing clamp that pumps air.

There are plenty of types of air pumps, of different sizes and shapes. The one that most people use is a Taiwanese one, called tecax air pump. Another popular choice is the super 555, fabricated in India. They cost less but they’re not as resistant. You can also find versions built in France and UK, but they’re usually a bit more expensive.

The air pump should be hooked to a material that doesn’t vibrate and it’s above the level of the water. The aeration materials that I mentioned before can work well to aerate the aquarium. If the tank is small, you only need to use a simple air pump, through an air tube made of rubber, to an air stone. The air will be blown into the water by this system and provide fish with the oxygen they need.