Fish Care

Aquarium Set-up & Cycle

Setting up your new aquarium

1. Choose a flat location for your tank, away from direct heat, light and noise sources, but close to a power outlet.
2. Install the filter following the instructions, although leave it all switched off until step 7. Open filter and make sure you unpack media/sponges in case they are in plastic bags or wrap.
3. Install heater if you need one, although leave it switched off until step 7. Set the heater to the right temperature (24℃-26℃) for your fish.
4. Wash any gravel and decorations to remove dust, if you have rocks, put them in and arrange before adding gravel/sand. Arrange decorations inside the tank.
5. Fill the tank with water.
6. Add in any appropriate water conditioner.
7. Turn on the filter, heater and lights.

We recommend you wait 24 hours after setting up the tank to ensure that the water conditioner has mixed properly and that the water has heated to the correct temperature and all equipment is working.

Checking kH (Carbonate Hardness)

It is recommended that you do a kH (Carbonate Hardness) test before adding any fish, water that is too hard or too soft for your chosen fish type can be harmful to them.  If required, add the appropriate buffer.

Please note: kH naturally decreases over a period of a week or two with fish waste and in general. It will decrease more rapidly when your gravel is dirty and/or your filters need changing, this is why we recommend a 10% water change either weekly or two weekly and checking kH regularly.

1. Fill up test tube to 5ml.
2. Add and count first drop, this should go blue, if it goes yellow on the first drop then you are showing a kH crash!! Add buffer to increase and re test an hour later.
3. Keep adding drops, counting as you go, STOP when it goes yellow.
   • For Tropical fish we want it to go yellow between 8-9 drops
   • For Coldwater fish between 10-12 drops (including Pond Fish).
   • For Marine fish between 10-11 drops.
4. If too low add buffer to increase and re test an hour later.
5. If too high add pH down and re test an hour later.

Introduction of Fish

When adding new fish, it is important to acclimatise them to your tank water.

It is recommended that you switch the lights off before introducing the fish and leave them off for the rest of the day.

They will be transported in sealed plastic bag/s. Follow these steps;

1. Siphon out enough water from your tank to make room for the bag/s.
2. Float bag/s on the surface for approximately 10 minutes (20 minutes if the bag/s have got cooler on way home).
3. Then open the bag/s and roll down the top of the bag 4-5cms so the bag settles on the surface, for the next 20 minutes, allow a small amount of tank water into each bag, repeat this process every five minutes for the next 20 mins.
4. Now gently lift the bag and allow your new fish to swim out into their new home.
5. If required, top the tank back up with the siphoned water, if not required, throw away.

We recommend you only introduce a few fish (the bigger the tank the more you will need to add) to ‘kick-off’ the biological cycle.

Feed a very small amount of your chosen food once a day and every other day while going through the cycle.

Cycling the Tank (No2)

The nitrogen cycle is a natural process that helps break down toxic waste products into something less harmful for your fish.

If you’re setting up a new fish tank, you’ll need to help create this cycle in the new aquarium.

The cycle allows good bacteria to grow in the tank, which act as a sort of biological filter for any waste your fish produce. Their wee and poo has high levels of deadly ammonia in it which, in a properly cycled tank, will be converted into nitrites and then into non-toxic nitrates.

There are three major stages that occur during a nitrogen cycle:

1. Ammonia is introduced into the water through waste and uneaten food. This is toxic for your fish in high amounts.
2. Bacteria starts to form which converts the ammonia into nitrites. These are still toxic, but are an important stage in the cycle.
3. Nitrites build up and are then converted into nitrates by new bacteria. Nitrates are the end goal of the cycle that filter out the nasties in your water.

Creating a healthy nitrogen cycle in your new aquarium has no set time limit. Usually though, it will take a few weeks providing you regularly change the water and carefully monitor the water for toxins.

We recommend that you buy a Nitrite (No2) test kit to monitor the cycle daily and carry out 10% water changes as appropriate till the cycle is complete. Ideally you need to go from yellow to orange to red (stage 1), then back up to orange and finally yellow. Then the tank filtration has completed its cycle.

Note(s):

1. Feed every other day during No2 cycle.
2. Remember to add dechlorinator to any new water you add to the tank.
3. If you have to use a buffer to adjust the KH, hardness/softness of the water, you will need to monitor this too.

Click Here to download no2 Cycle sheet

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Aquarium Care & Maintenance

Maintaining your aquarium

Once you’ve set up your new aquarium and it has completed its No2 cycle it is important to maintain it so that the fish can thrive.

Maintaining your aquarium is uncomplicated, there are a few steps that you’ll need to complete either weekly, or every 2 weeks, this covers Tropical, Coldwater and Marine fish.

• Change the water to maintain the health of your fish and the cleanliness of the tank, you should carefully siphon out around 10% of your aquarium’s water using a gravel cleaner (this removes solid fish waste that builds up in the gravel) into a bucket/container. Use this water to clean your sponges and media (if using). DO NOT clean filters and sponges or media with tap water, this KILLS all the good bacteria that you have propagated. If you do use tap water your tank will possibly end up in a No2 cycle which could effect the health of your fish. You only need to replace filters with white fine sponges/wool, the coarser ones up to 50ppi just need rinsing in the kept water.
  Note: If you have sand or fine coral sand a gravel cleaner may end up sucking it up. In this instance you can either hover about an 3-4cms over the sand with gravel cleaner or use a length of airline to suck up any solid waste. (Remember you still need to collect water for cleaning!).
• Replace the water using a dechlorinater (only add enough for the 10% replacement, not the whole capacity of the tank). If tropical add some warm water to get to the same temperature as your tank water.
• Test the water about half an hour after changing your water to check your kH, if you need to buffer up/down allow a couple of hours before you re-test. Refer to Checking kH above this section. If you have a Marine set up we advise checking kH of your salt water in the containers and buffering before putting into the tank, for salt usually you will need 10ml for every 10 litres and for Reverse Osmosis (R/O) water 25ml for every 10 litres. With (R/O) we also recommend re remineralizing each container according to products specifications.

Filter Maintenance

Every 4-6 weeks clean the impellor, refer to manual or lookup online to see how your models impellor is removed. Clean the magnet and shaft, also wipe inside housing chamber to remove algae or grit.

If your filter is an external use a brush or pipe cleaner to clean water outlet/inlet channels to remove algae and waste food etc.

If you have baskets or bags with media check to make sure they are still intact (as some types can erode over time), if not replace.

If you use carbon you must change it regularily. If you have a moderate stock level change it every 6 to 8 weeks, if you have a high stock level change every 4 weeks. The reason we do this is because carbon will absorb impurities up to a point, then dump it back out when saturated!

Aquarium Lighting

We recommend keeping your lights on for a maximum of 6 hours for tropical and coldwater that is NOT planted, 8 hours if planted. If your Aquarium/Tank is in a room with a lot of natural light or direct sunlight we suggest putting a towel or blanket over your Aquarium/Tank during spring to summer to avoid excess algae growth. You can always add a Plecostomus (Pleco/Suckermouth catfish) to help tackle algae. Prevent Algae (API) is a gentle product which also can help.

Usually the above times for Marine tanks are suitable (6 hours) unless you keep corals. If you do keep corals call up or pop in to discuss lighting ideas and suggestions as this is down to coral stock and quantity.