Info AquaScape

Quarantining new fish seems like very obvious, super newbie advice, right? I mean, who doesn't quarantine? Look, I too read the manual, heard the warning signs, and obeyed the law. However, despite quarantining every fish, invertebrate, and plant that entered our house, I still managed to cause deaths. How is that possible? Let me give you three ways you may be incorrectly quarantining your fish: 1) Don't Use Your Display Tank for Quarantine Some people say that if you're setting up your display aquarium for the first time, it's fine to just directly add in your new fish for "quarantine." Don't do it! The whole point of quarantine is to keep your new creatures away from the main tank to prevent cross-contamination. Ideally, the quarantine tank should be in a completely separate room from any display tanks since germs can travel through air and water particles. If your fish get sick while being quarantined in your main tank, it can pretty expensive to...

Don't Panic About Aquarium Cycling! Despite being a habitual researcher, I balked at learning about the aquarium cycle. It's because everyone made it sound so tedius! They would immediately dive into complex chemical terms and scientific names, and it made my eyes roll into my head in boredom. Here's the very simple, "Cycling for Dummies" explanation... What Does Cycling an Aquarium Mean? It means your fish or other aquatic animals have the ability to live in an aquarium without dying in their own waste (like ammonia and urea). This can be accomplished in several ways: Do frequent water changes to manually remove the waste.  Grow beneficial bacteria that will convert the fish waste into a less toxic chemical, which buys you more time between water changes. Use live plants (or algae) that will directly uptake ammonia and convert it into new leaves and plant growth. Note: That means that putting water in your tank and letting it sit without fish for a week wi...