The Aquarium Source

Hot:

             Selecting a habitat for your new aquarium is a fun as well as important part of setting up a new tank. The aquarium habitat will be an important part of the health of your fish. While a more naturalistic environment will help keep your fish calm and stress free, a more involved environment will keep your fish moving and busy.

             A true habitat will reflect the natural environment of the fish and contain very few if any non-required decorations. These tanks will contain plants, rocks, shells, gravel and will resemble an underwater environment. Habitats that contain more decorations will offer “fun” decorations that are meant more for the viewer than for the fish. These decorations such as a sign that reads “Danger: Sharks” or novelty items along those lines, would not be found in the natural environment of the fish.

             No matter what type of habitat you build for your fish these items need to be cleaned and sterilized before you add them to your tank. Boiling these items will help clean them and remove any bacteria that is on them, or any loose chemicals that may be left over from the manufacturing process. Naturally if you are buying live rock or any sort of live decoration or coral, YOU WILL NOT BOIL THESE. Follow the instructions you are given with these items for the best possible results.

                       There are a few hints to keep in mind when cleaning your decorations:

 1) Always keep safety in mind when working with boiling water.

- You will be dealing with water that is extremely hot and possibly an open flame. These surfaces will burn you very quickly if you are not careful. If you are not confident about boiling these items, have someone else in your house help you out.

 2) The object is to clean these items not cook them.    

- I can’t count the number of times I have heard people talking about trying to clean these items and they fall apart in the pot of boiling water.  The trick is to bring the water to a boil and then add the decorations. These items need to be boiled for approximately 5-10 seconds, this will eliminate any bacteria that may be hiding or in difficult places that are hard to reach on your decorations.

3) Never use cleaners on your decorations

-  Any form of household chemical is poison to your fish. Aerosols that you spray near your tank can get in the water and poison the fish. Any type of chemical that you use to clean these decorations can get into the water. Let nature do its jobs and after you boil the decorations let them air dry and them place them in the tank. Boiling removes the harmful components and the chemistry of the fish tank will take care of the rest.

This does not mean that you will never use a chemical on your decorations. Sometimes to take care of a tank infestation you will need to treat your entire tank. This will be discussed in a later article.