Fish Tank Health 101: Water Quality is Key

All of my life I have been told Prevention is the best medicine. This applies to just about every aspect of life. It also applies to your fish tank health. For every aquarium your first defense is water quality. Water quality is easily maintained and easily improved with specific additives and water changes.

We are in the process of setting up an aquarium for our new cichlid fry. The aquarium equipment is not new, however we will be treating it as new because we are replacing bio-wheel in the filtration system. Over the next several weeks I will be posting about what we are working on with the aquarium.

In Setting up Your New Tropical Fish Tank I mentioned for any new aquarium you should allow a period of time for cycling prior to adding fish. If you start out right, your fish will be healthy and happy.

Allowing at least one week of cycling will give your aquarium time to build up beneficial bacteria, let you check temperature and equipment stability, and it you can ensure the tank water quality is satisfactory.

• Beneficial bacteria helps keep ammonia at bay. Ammonia is converted to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. Once your fish tank has sufficient beneficial bacteria to process this, you can add fish to your aquarium.

To determine if your fish tank is doing its job you will need a water test kit. These kits are essential for checking water quality and maintaining fish health. Your main concern during cycling is to check for ammonia and nitrite. Good water quality is had when you have zero ammonia and nitrite, low nitrate (below 20), and a stable pH.

• Water temperature is another important factor in fish health and is related to water quality. Different fish require different temperatures. Once you decide what type of fish you will be keeping, you should ensure your fish tank is set to the proper temperature for your species.

Monitor your water temperature with a good thermometer designed for an aquarium. There should not be any major fluctuations in water temperature as this will stress or kill your fish.

During cycling you should observe your equipment to ensure it is functioning properly. Filtration should be observed for water movement, water clarity, and checked for any blockages, binding, or bogging. A malfunctioning filtration system will affect water quality.

This week we are getting our aquarium ready. The aquarium is 29-gallons with an Eclipse filtration system in the hood. We are addressing some limescale issues now and should start cycling the tank this weekend.

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