10 Gallon Aquarium - You Need To Set It Up Right


by The Aquarium Lady

10 gallon aquariums need as much setting up as you would have to do if you owned a much large size aquarium. Certainly if you want to see the fish and marine life you put into a 10 gallon aquarium to thrive then creating their ideal environment is essential.

No matter whether you go for a 10 gallon aquarium or something much larger you have the choice of either keeping freshwater or saltwater tropical fish in one. The principles still remain the same for any size of tank whether it is to be a freshwater aquarium or a saltwater aquarium. Below we look at the things one needs to do before you actually can set up a freshwater 10 gallon aquarium.

10 Gallon Aquarium - Things To Do Prior To The Set Up Process

After getting your 10 gallon aquarium tank home the first thing you need to do before anything else is wash it out. This can be done using a small amount of detergent mixed into some warm water to scrub the sides of what appears to be a clean 10 gallon aquarium but which will have lots of dust, dirt and contaminants on it.

When you have washed the 10 gallon aquarium with the detergent mixture now get on with rinsing it out. You need to wash it out with fresh clean water several times to ensure that not just debris but any detergent residue is removed.

Along with cleaning the 10 gallon aquarium you need to wash any piece of equipment that is going to be situated in the tank also. Remember to rinse them all thoroughly several times in order to ensure that detergent residue and debris is removed from them. If you don’t you could actually cause health problems for the fish and marine life you place in the aquarium and could lead to some dying.

When you need to clean the gravel that you are going to be placing in the 10 gallon aquarium the easiest way of doing this is by placing it in a colander and then situating it under running faucet and leave there for a while. As for plants (no matter whether they are live or plastic) they need to be cleaned and the most effective way is by putting them in a bucket of water and leaving them there until you need to put them in the aquarium.

Setting Up A 10 Gallon Aquarium - Other Things You Need To Do

It is important that before you start preparing the 10 gallon aquarium so you can put aquatic life into it you test to make sure that it won’t leak. To do this you fill it with water completely and then monitor it over the next few hours to see what happens. Only if you are happy with the results can you now start to prepare the aquarium in readiness for aquatic life to be placed in it.

After removing the water to test if the 10 gallon aquarium is leaking or not the first things you need to put in are the filtration system (side mounted or under gravel one) and the gravel itself. Then once you have these in place the unchlorinated water can be added. If you’re not sure the water you are using doesn’t contain chlorine then to it add some chlorine remover. Make sure you follow the dosage instructions that have been provided by the manufacturer who supplies these products.

A superb way of avoiding disturbing the gravel in your 10 gallon aquarium when pouring in the water is to place a dish on top of it. Then rather than pouring the water directly into the tank pour it slowly and gently on to the dish and allow it to flow over the side into the tank. Then once you have finished filling the 10 gallon aquarium full of water can you then take the dish out.

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