One Solution To Healthy Fish: Freshwater Aquarium Water Quality

Keeping fish has always been a popular hobby, less demanding on a day to day basis than the effort to care for most pets, and interesting enough to qualify as a hobby as well. It is increasingly recognized as not only interesting, but soothing to a therapeutic level, when it is done in a proper manner. Contrary to popular belief, each type of species and combination of fish create a community with a unique personality. All you need to do is set up a tank with good freshwater aquarium water quality and you are ready to go.

Setting up an aquarium so that you can keep and enjoy fish over time is more complex than just filling the container with water and adding fish. Because the fish live in the water, it has to be maintained in a careful range to keep them alive and thriving. In a natural pond or stream there are natural means for establishing and maintaining the health of the water, in a confined environment you have to take care of it all. With a little effort, you can enjoy the thrill of owning a beautiful interactive group of aquatic pets.

Without getting too complicated, the issues you have to worry about in your aquarium water are ammonia, nitrites, oxygen, and pH. The biggest mistakes made by novice aquatic pet owners are caused by the effort to rush the set-up of the aquarium environment. It is possible to set-up an aquarium quickly, but usually it will end badly for the fish.

Because they are living organisms, fish have to eat and excrete. Both processes contribute to the amount of ammonia in the water, and because it is a closed environment, this ammonia can build up to fatal levels. The best method for dealing with ammonia is to allow for the development of healthy colonies of beneficial bacteria. This will occur naturally if you let the aquarium sit for several weeks before adding the fish. You can also try EcoBio-Block Family products which speed up this cycle and continuously maintain a healthy environment for your fish. Fish stores also sell the bacteria which you can add on a regular basis to the system. The key is letting it reach equilibrium and testing it with kits also available for purchase.

All the water that comes out of the taps in your house have added chlorine or chloramine. This is great for people as it kills many problematic bacteria which are harmful to us. Unfortunately, fish can handle the bacteria much better than the chlorine/chloramine, which is toxic to them. This is the reason it is important to let a fish tank set for at least twenty four hours if you know you have chlorine, or use additives which remove chlorine/chloramines from any water that you plan to use to refill your tank.

Another concern for fish is the acidity of the water. There is a range of acidity or alkalinity fish can tolerate, and each species has its own preference, but it is something to check. Kits are available which test the water again using color coding which will tell you the measure of hydronium ions in the water. The pH levels go from very acidic at the zero reading to very alkaline or basic at readings up to fourteen. A reading of seven is neutral and most fish will do well in it.

Despite the fact that fish live in water, they still need oxygen to survive. Keeping the water adequately oxygenated is as simple as having a filtration pump to keep the water moving and adding a few underwater plants to the ecosystem. It is also important to keep the number of fish in the tank under control and limit algae to help with the amount of available oxygen for each fish.

Establishing the chemical balance of the water before adding any fish will help you succeed in maintaining a community of healthy pets. Using test kits and not rushing the process is helpful, and you can get help by using the EcoBio-Block products which greatly ease the balancing process. The key is maintaining freshwater aquarium water quality to allow the creatures you choose to bring you the pleasure you wanted when you started the hobby.