We wanted to have an aquarium for a while. It is an old hobby that I'm retaking with my wife. Things have changed since I started. The Internet and new and updated books make everything easier and clearer. There are a lot of things that I never knew and others that I thought were good which are not that good.
For example those little bubbles that one sees in the tanks are not really necessary, the bubbles don't give oxygen to the water, except on the surface where they make it move. It is sufficient enough with the power filter, that gets water from the aquarium, filters it and returns it like a little cascade.
One of the most interesting things that we found is the concept of Cycling. That is cultivating bacterias in the filter and in the tank to recycle the fish waste, that produces toxic ammonia, and making it into nitrogen gas that is not toxic. The cycling can take a month or more and takes many steps and periodic water analysis, but even though the process is long and complex it is worth it because at the end you get a very stable and healthy aquarium.
Fish in emergency tank.
In the first attempt we got a 10 gallon tank and we stuffed it with different fish from different stores. Many fish can come sick and should be kept apart for some days, but in the excitement of having a new aquarium we did not realize that until we learned from our mistake later. That was not good and the fish got Ick, a parasite that infected most of them, so we decided to seperate them all, treat them with medication and remake the aquarium the way it should be made.
New 20 gallon tank with table.
In the process we got a bigger tank (20 gallons), so we left the little (10 gallons) for recovering the fish (hospital tank). In the new tank we are adding the fish very slowly, few by few, at the same time we are controlling the evolution of the tank.
New aquarium setup.
Please visit the full album of pictures here. we are constantly adding more pictures.
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