Setting up a home for your Aquariums Pet

One must remember the nitrate cycle when starting to create aquariums pet habitats. Don't jump into the venture of keeping an aquarium and/or fish too quickly. To cycle an aquarium correctly may take at least a day or two and perhaps upto weeks, depending on the setup and use. This is because there are bacteria that assist, naturally, the life cycle of an aquarium, but they are only present when there are fish present. This cycle time also allows for the ammonia, chlorine, and other heavy elements to be dispersed naturally and by mechanical and chemical means.

The nitrogen cycle breaks down, no pun intended thusly. Fish will eat their food, and therefor generate waste, this along with the plant matter and left over food generates amounts of ammonia. This ammonia is toxic in high enough levels to fish, and then needs to be broken down in some way. The beneficial bacteria generated by the nature of an aquariums environment is essential in this process.

It can then be broken down by other forms of bacteria into nitrates from the nitrates, which are more easilly tolerated by your aquariums pets. This is the part in the cycle where a mechanical and/or chemical filter system take over and filter or process out the remaining detrimental chemicals. All of this though is only part of the process, regular water changes, usually in the range of one quarter to one half the total volume of the aquarium, are needed on a regular basis as well to fully remove these toxic elements from the aquarium pets environment.

As we alluded to before, setting up the aquarium prior to adding any pets to it is imperative. Wash anything that is going to be placed in the aquarium with cold water, use no soap or other detergents, as the invisible traces these can leave behind will more than likely destroy any other efforts you have made. Now is the time for the addition of your water, make sure you use a dechlorifying agent, and then allow the tank to run for as long as needed. This means, until the water is clear, the pH level balances out and the water temperature stabilizes as well.

After these tasks have been completed, and trust me they may seem completely obtruse and otherwise time consuming, they are completely worth it. If you take all of these steps and ideas into full practice, it will ensure a long and happy life for your aquarium's pet.