How To Setup A Freshwater Tropical Fish Tank

Written by Mike Magnum, FishLore.com Editor


Continued from page 1

STEP 7: Add water torepparttar aquarium. To avoid messing up your gravel and plants, you can place a plate or saucer inrepparttar 125614 middle of your aquarium and directrepparttar 125615 water flow ontorepparttar 125616 plate. Use room temperature water when filling. To removerepparttar 125617 chlorine and chloramine, use something like Tetra AquaSafe for Aquariums. Don’t completely fill uprepparttar 125618 aquarium until you are sure ofrepparttar 125619 layout of your decorations. Otherwise, when you place your arm in to move stuff around water is going to spill over. Doh!

STEP 8: Set up equipment. Install your heater but don’t plug it in untilrepparttar 125620 thermostat inrepparttar 125621 heater has adjusted torepparttar 125622 water temperature. This usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Hook up your filter and any other equipment you have, then top offrepparttar 125623 aquarium water to just underrepparttar 125624 hood lip. Place your hood and light onrepparttar 125625 aquarium and then check your power cords to be sure that they are free of water. I would also recommend using a drip loop on all ofrepparttar 125626 power cords to be extra cautious. Plug all ofrepparttar 125627 equipment into a power strip and then “turn on”repparttar 125628 aquarium.

STEP 9. Wait, wait, wait and then wait some more. I know, you want to add some tropical fish. But, in order to do this right you must wait until your aquarium has cycled before adding any fish. There are ways of speeding up this process. Check outrepparttar 125629 nitrogen cycle page to learn more. If you must use fish to cycle, try to get a hardier species likerepparttar 125630 zebra danio or cherry barb.

STEP 10. Add tropical fish. Only add one or two fish at a time. Adding a couple tropical fish at a time gives your filtration systemrepparttar 125631 time needed to take onrepparttar 125632 increased biological load thatrepparttar 125633 new fish introduce. When you bringrepparttar 125634 fish home letrepparttar 125635 bag float inrepparttar 125636 tank for about 15 minutes so thatrepparttar 125637 fish can become acclimated torepparttar 125638 temperature and pH ofrepparttar 125639 aquarium water. After 5 minutes of floatingrepparttar 125640 bag you should add some ofrepparttar 125641 aquarium water torepparttar 125642 bag so thatrepparttar 125643 fish can become acclimated torepparttar 125644 pH level inrepparttar 125645 aquarium. This will help reducerepparttar 125646 amount of stress imposed onrepparttar 125647 tropical fish. Stressed tropical fish often leads to dead tropical fish! Don’t feed your tropical fish onrepparttar 125648 first day. They probably wouldn’t eat any food onrepparttar 125649 first day anyway. Let them get acquainted with their new home.

STEP 11. Get ready for regular maintenance. Be prepared to spend some time once every week or two to clean your tank. Performing regular water changes will reducerepparttar 125650 nitrate levels and keep your tropical fish happy and healthy.

For more tropical fish and aquarium information, please visit FishLore.com - Tropical Fish & Aquarium Information.

Mike is an editor at FishLore.com. Designed for beginners, FishLore.com provides tropical fish information, how-to guides, articles, fish profiles, FAQs, forums and more! www.FishLore.com - Tropical Fish & Aquarium Information


Why Don't I Understand My Dog?

Written by C. Bailey-Lloyd/LadyCamelot


Continued from page 1

So step one into understanding our pets is to unconditionally accept them into our homes. Having several, large canine companions, (whom all live indoors with me), I've learned to recognize and distinguish types of body language and visual dialogue that speaks volumes. When our dogs live indoors with us, we can interpretrepparttar language of love. Not only do we see their personalities unfold before our eyes, we learn to be intuitive to each of our pets' needs, similar to our own.

From experience, I can literally close my eyes and distinguish each dog's presence simply by touch and sense. Why? Because by having them alongside me, I've learned their individual motions, breathes, sounds and feel. And in turn, they present their comical and goofy sides, their playfulness and their unconditional love for us.

When we invite our dogs into our lives - truly into our lives - we discover a world of fascination, innocence, inspiration, laughter, amusement, and an indescribable love. So how can pet owners learn to better understand their dog's behavior? Give Beethoven a bath, bring him inside and watch how his character evolves. The more time we spend one-on-one with our dogs,repparttar 125613 better we are able to recognize specific traits and how to employ gentle behavior training techniques.

Having seven huge dogs, I've come to terms that dogs are one of life's most precious gifts. They are here for just a little while. When we take time to get to know them individually, we gain more than just a pet; we gain a friend for life.

© 2005 - Why Don't I Understand my Dog? By C. Bailey-Lloyd aka. LadyCamelot Public Relations' Director & Staff Writer www.holisticjunction.com www.mediapositiveradio.com

C. Bailey-Lloyd aka. LadyCamelot Public Relations' Director & Staff Writer www.holisticjunction.com www.mediapositiveradio.com


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