Filtration is a vital part of any home aquarium. It allows maintainance of a healthy aquatic environment for the tank inhabitants and keeps the tank aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. There are many different types of filtration systems that can be utilized in the home freshwater aquarium, each with their own benefits and drawbacks.
Routine water changes are a vital part of maintain a balanced, healthy environment in any pond or aquarium. However, there is more to performing water changes than just dumping out the old water and adding in the new. In this article we wil discuss why water changes are important and how to perform them properly to insure a healthy home aquatic ecosystem.
Nitrogen is an important element found in nature and is critical for many biologic functions. The nitrogen cycle is the natural process by which nitrogen compounds are converted between various forms. Gathering a basic understanding of how the nitrogen cycle works can help you keep your fish or aquatic turtle healthy and happy.
Keeping an aquarium in your house can be fun and rewarding, it just takes a little work and patience. Like any pet or home project it is important to start off on the right foot and following simple rules in order to be successful. This brief article will cover the basics of setting up an aquarium in your home.
Alkalinity is a measure of the water’s ability to buffer the pH to provide stability and avoid rapid changes in pH that could adversely affect the health of the animals in the water. It is one of the more important but most often overlooked parameters to monitor for healthy water quality in a system. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is the compound that has the most effect on alkalinity, but sodium, bicarbonate and other compounds play more minor roles. Good quality kits are available from companies like Salifert and Red Sea to test alkalinity by adding drops to the water sample in a test tube.
Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates measure the biological filter in a system. Elevations in any of these parameters with normal pH and alkalinity indicates a problems with biological filtration (see related article: The Importance of Water Quality Testing on this website). Mild elevations in all parameters are generally easy to fix, but there are some special cases described below that are far more concerning.
