This will be a beginners guide to setting up a tropical fish tank. You will need to take your time and make sure not to add fish to the tank right away as this could kill your fish. You must understand that it takes a little time for the water to fully cycle so your fish can live a long time and stay healthy.
You will first need to find out what kind of fish that you want to keep in the tank. This will help you decide how big of an aquarium that you will need. Do some research, especially look into how big the fish will grow, you do not want your fish to outgrow the fish tank.
The next thing that you need to do is get all of the stuff that you will need to do so. This will consist of a fish tank, filter, lamp, water heater, gravel, decorations, water conditioner, bacteria supplement, and a background if you choose to jazz up the tank and make it look more like a fish environment.
Find a space in your home that you want to set up the fish tank at. This should be somewhere that is not in the way and make sure you are happy with the spot because moving a tank can be a pain once you have fish in it.
Next fill the tank up with water to the top, do not worry about putting any conditioner in the water yet as we are only testing to see if the tank has any leaks. Let the water sit in the tank overnight, and in the morning check around the tank for any signs of water, once you are sure there are no leaks you can empty the tank.
When you are waiting to find out if your aquarium had any leaks or not you can start pre-treating gallons of tap water in jugs with water conditioner. One thing I do to speed up the process is add bacteria supplement to the water also, to get the perfect mixture ratio make sure to pay attention to the instructions on the bottle of water conditioner.
Next you can start setting up the interior of the tank with decorations and gravel while the tank is still empty. It is very critical that you was anything that you put into the tank very well, even if it is brand new. There will still be dust and dirt on the gravel so make sure that it is rinsed with water before putting it into your aquarium.
Now add the premixed water into the tank, and turn on your filter pump or pumps, heat pumps, and overhead light if you have one. Let the tank cycle for at least a week before adding any fish, as it takes a tank time to complete a full cycle.
Let the fish tank cycle the water for at least one week. After that one week you can add a couple of fish to get the tanks ecosystem in action, but do not add anymore fish for at least 5 weeks. Be patient and your fish will be healthy and live for a long time.
The author has been setting up aquariums of all types for many years and has great knowledge on aquariums. You can visit his store if you need to purchase a home aquarium. aquariums For Sale