If you're about to throw away that aquarium of yours, you might want to reconsider. It turns out, keeping an aquarium inside your home have huge benefits for your mental health. Believe it or not, many scientific studies have actually been taken to prove this. Here are the few benefits of it:
Not bad huh? Now you may even want to buy another one for your parents and friends.
Many people complained about how extremely difficult to set up and maintain an aquarium and there is a good deal of truth to this statement. In here, we'll take you through some of the factors that might explain your frustration with your aquarium:
Your aquarium doesn't have the required equipment
here is an equipment checklist you must have in your saltwater aquarium.
1. Aquarium Tank & Stand
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2. Aquarium Lighting
Image Source: LED Light Fixtures
3. Skimmer, Filters & filtration equipment
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4. Live rock & substrate
Image Source: Top Marine Aquarium Substrates
5. Sea Salt Mix/Saltwater & Hydrometer
Image Source: Top Sea Salts
6. Heater & thermometer
Image Source: Saltwater Aquarium Heaters
7. Air pump & airstones
Image source: Air Pump Montage
8. Test kits, additives & supplements
Image source: Top Saltwater Aquarium Test Kits.
You're not effectively putting your aquarium inside your house
This is very basic and important, because if you don't put it in a correct place, you are basically wasting your time. So, here we go:
1. Don't put your aquarium near a window where strong daylight/ direct sunlight are presence.
Ever wonder why your aquarium turns green and dirty too fast?
That green thing you were looking at is called Algae. Like any other plants, Algae needs light to photosynthesize which is the main reason for its survival. When your aquarium receives too much light, you are giving the best place for algae to live and breed across the aquarium.
Normally, your aquarium is not allowed to have lighting for more than 8-10 hours a day. Having lighting exceeding 10 hours a day will allow that unwanted algae to grow. Having 8-10 hours of lighting is enough for the plants in your aquarium to photosynthesize but not enough for the algae to flourish and spread. And if you live in a tropical city, day light lasts for 12 hours, that is more than enough light if you put your aquarium near the window. ideally, you should put your aquarium at the darker corner and set a special aquarium lighting together with a timer from your local fish store, The timer controls the number of hours your aquarium gets light, you can set it to 8-12 hours. You don't need to be bothered with remembering when to switch on or off the aquariums's lighting manually.
Another factor to note is that placing your aquarium near a window will cause a huge fluctuation in water temperature. The direct sunlight will warm up the temperature of the water at daylight and the temperature will cool down drastically at night. Fishes are not a big fan of living inside an environment with huge temperature fluctuation. They are cold blooded species, they cant regulate their body temperature like humans do. A good range of temperature is 76° to 80°F (25° to 27°C). Make sure to keep in check with an aquarium thermometer.
2. Place your aquarium away from your door.
If you are wondering why your fishes are dying all the time, may be you're giving too much shocks to them. Fishes are susceptible in getting scared or shocked when the door is being open and closed. You may not feel it, but it feels like an earthquake for the fishes. The shock wave from the door can travel through the wall, the floor, the aquarium stand, the fish tank and into the water, all the way to the fish. Therefore it is important to set the aquarium away from the door if you want to keep your fishes alive and healthy.
3. Do not set your aquarium near a radiator or a vent where temperature can change rapidly.
Not only this will affect the fluctuation of water temperature in your aquarium, placing your aquarium near a vent might cause electrical short circuit. Most people think that it is less likely to happen, but hear this out; water tends to evaporate at higher temperature, the evaporated water molecule will raise up the vent and mess up the electrical circuit over time. But this is more likely to happen to salt water aquarium than fresh water aquarium.
Aaaaannddd, you're all set! I hope this article helps, thanks for reading!
Written by:
Evelyn Sinugroho