steps to starting your aquarium

Steps to Starting Your Aquarium

1. 
   
   
   
   Take the tank outside and wash it out with water.DO NOT USE SOAP!




2. 
   
   
   
   Fill tank with water. If it leaks you will need to repair it.




3. 
   
   
   
   Once you have checked for leaks bring tank inside and place on a sturdy table that will hold the tanks weight.




4. 
   
   
   
   Fill tank with gravel or sand.




5. 
   
   
   
   Fill tank with water and then treat the water with a any type of chlorine remover.




6. 
   
   
   
   Next get the filter for the aquarium. I recomend getting a filter stronger then needed, for instence I have a 25 gallon aquarium and I am using a 30 gallon filter instead of a 25 gallon filter. This way your tank stays cleaner and you can have more fish. Leave filter running for 2 weeks.



7. 
   
   
   Once you have the filter set up youwill need a heater. Put your heater in the aquarium and set to any where from 70 to 80 degrees.



8. 
   
   
   Now comes the fun part decorating your aquarium. Your aquarium needs a good balance of plants and rocks along with a place for your fish to hide. If yo want to have live plants instead of fake plants you will need a good source of light.


9. 
   
   Now you need to buy some fish you should start out with cheap but hardy fish in your aquarium because your aquariums water quality is not good enough yet for the large and fancy fish yet. Here is a list of fish that will do good in new aquariums: Zebra dainos, neon tetras, cardnal tetras, serpa tetras, black tetras, guppys, flying foxes, anglefish, green cory, bronze cory, panda cory three-line cory, a plecostomus, black mollies, common swordtails, and dalmatian platies. Once you have some of these fish in your aquarium after a while your water quality will enprove and you can get some large fancy fish.