Aquarium Rocks

Rocks can be used as decorative elements in an aquarium while providing hide-outs and homes for the fish that reside there. Aquarium rocks provide caves and territories, a surface to lay eggs on, and a place for algae eaters to graze upon. Rocks come in all different shapes and sizes and are made out of all sorts of different materials. Pay special attention to the type of rocks you use in your aquarium because not all rocks are safe for fish.

Rocks that are good for the aquarium do not crumble, erode, or leach harmful chemicals into the water. Slate, granite, and quartz are all examples of good rocks that can be used in the aquarium without harming the inhabitants. Avoid using rocks such as lava rock and marble. Lava rock is known to have plenty of sharp, jagged edges that can scratch a fish if it swims to close to it, or the mouth of a sucker fish attempting to graze upon it. Marble will alter the chemistry of the water causing the water to become too hard for most fish to survive in. Testing water regularly is one way to be sure that the rocks you are using are not harmful to the fish in the tank. Never trust a rock that is store bought just because they say it should be safe for the fish. If you really want to know if a rock is safe, soak it in a bucket of water for a few weeks and test the water. If the tests show that it does not alter the water chemistry the rock is safe to use in the aquarium.

Rocks can be used in a variety of ways that can be both pleasing to the eye and practical for your fish. Aquarium gravel is tiny rocks used to cover the bottom of the tank to prevent fish from becoming disoriented. If a fish can see its own reflection in the bottom of the aquarium it can cause the fish to become confused as to which way is up. This causes the fish stress. Gravelly substrate is practical in that it provides an anchor for plants and it houses the much needed, nitrifying bacteria. Algae eating sucker fish find the gravel useful because it provides increased surface area upon which algae can grow. Fry use gravel to hide themselves from predators for survival. Aquarium gravel can be bought in a variety of different colors, sizes and textures to suit the décor of the tank. It is used for the foundation upon which to build the exciting underwater scene in which your fish will reside. Gravel can be collected from the wild but all the normal precautions still apply. Gravel can also be store bought wherever aquarium products are sold. If you do not want to use gravel larger stones can be used to cover the bottom of the aquarium. Sand should be laid across the glass first to prevent the larger, heavier stones from cracking or scratching the bottom.

Source - http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=aquariumrocks

Image Courtesy - http://www.stonedecorative.com/images/aquarium-rocks-2.jpg

Forest in Aquariums - Planted Aquariums

Source - the internet

Corner Marine Tank.

Swordtail

Swordtail is a type of freshwater aquarium fish which is considered one of the hardiest and easy to care for. It is a live bearer meaning that the fry is born as free swimmer and the fish is easily identifiable from its tail fin which extends like a sword and ends with a sharp point. However, this characteristic is only present in the male but not the female, which only has a round fin and also a thicker body. The average size of the fish is only about 2-3 inches long minus the tail fin while some can even grow up to 4 inches length.

The fish can be found in different colors ranging from yellow, orange, red and even black. Perhaps one of the most beautiful variants of the Swordtail is the bright-red colored species having a fierce look. This type is the most aggressive of all, as it will usually fight with each other especially during mating and competition for the females. There is also an albino variant with red colored eye, which is considered one of the rarest. Swordtail is generally not a preferred choice for a community tank due to its aggressive nature especially if there’s presence of other smaller fishes such as neon fish and guppies.

Swordtails are very tolerant to changes in water parameters and basically they can withstand and adapt easily to new aquarium environment with much better chances of survival. Wild Swordtails can be found in rivers from Central America but today it is also bred in colder climate areas and the temperature can be a low as 18degC compared to its cousin in the wild surviving in temperature as high as 28degC. It is also a good idea to get a large aquarium size due to its active nature and one of reason is also because it breeds easily and soon you will find that the whole aquarium will be overrun by this fish.

The Nitrogen Cycle

Trickle Filters (Dry - Wet System)

Different types of aquarium filters are available for freshwater and saltwater marine  hobbyist such as powerheads, undergravel system,aquarium diatom that utilizes diatomaceous earth, external canister filters but little is known about Trickle Filters. Also referred to as wet-dry filter, this system is now widely adopted for use in home aquariums and the working principle behind this simple operation is the use of surface area to maximize exposure of water to air in order to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria.

A normal setup of trickle filters has an overflow box located behind the tank to deliver water drawn from the aquarium using a pump that goes through a large box filter filled with bio-balls. The feed of water is controlled at a very slow rate and the purpose is to allow small amount water to drop to the distribution tray so that it can spread out evenly (maximize to large surface area) before moving to the compartment containing the bio-balls. Because the feed rate is generally very slow, this compartment is mostly dry except for the lower bottom few inches. The water that flows down is first collected at the sump before it goes to another compartment through a sponge block filter media before it is returned back again to the aquarium.

The diagram below will give a better illustration on what actually takes place and the whole system is actually not that difficult to setup. If you are a DIY kind of guy who prefer not to purchase a ready made filter from pet stores, you can actually construct your own system so that you can lower down on your aquarium budget and you can use the money saved from this for something else.

Aquarium trickle filters offers several benefits over other filtration system mainly because of its efficiency and low cost of maintenance. Bio-balls hardly chokes up and usually a routine maintenance done once in a week is more than enough to prevent clogging and to ensure maximum working efficiency. However, there are several things you need to bear in mind, which you must be careful when using trickle filters.

First due to the maximum exposure on surface area, the water loss from evaporation is very high meaning that you will need to regularly monitor the water level. This is made even more difficult especially for saltwater aquarium because this will affect and change salinity level tremendously. Secondly, compared to other types of aquarium filter, the capacity or volume of water involved in the filtration is much lower since you will need to control the feed rate in order for the system to function efficiently. Therefore this type of setup is mainly to serve mini aquariums or small fish tanks unless your resize the box filter to match your aquarium capacity.

Boyu - Upper Filter

• Unique design. water-pumping, water-circulation and water filtering 3 in 1.
• Compact structure, beautiful aspect, simple assembly, and easy operation.
• The filter contains multilayer biochemical filter system, which combines the latest decomposing technology of physics and biology. it is most suitable for cultivating good nitrobacteria, improving filter effect, and keeping the water crystal clear.
• Waterfall type stream design. the stream can be adjusted at will to wave the water surface. that helps to release the carbon dioxide from the water, and to dissolve the oxygen into the water for the aquatic animals.
• The pump motor is high-efficient, energy-saving with low noise. when the filter works, you can hear the chatters like mountain spring, enjoy the beautiful view of waterfall and stream. that will give you pleasure to your life.