Freshwater Aquarium Setup Guide

Setting up your freshwater aquarium properly the first time will safe you a ton of hassle and wasted times cleaning up the pieces. Many people are so excited about getting fish in their aquarium, that they forget an essential step or rush the process and put their fish in an unstable environment. I can tell you from first hand experience, this is not the way to go. Patience is key here.

1. Wash Everything Beforehand

Anything thats doing into the tank (fish excluded) should be washed thoroughly with a soap-free solution. My personal favorite soap-free solution is good ol' water. You can get everything cleaned properly without having to worry about chemical residues. The tank itself, gravel, ornaments, and plants should all be washed.

2. Setup Your Freshwater Aquarium

Put your tank and stand in a well positioned place in your home. Make sure your tank isn't directly under any air vents and out of direct sunlight to avoid rapid fluctuations in temperature. Keeping your fish tank out of the sun will also keep algae from growing too quickly.

3. Setup Your Filtration

Purchase an appropriately strong filter and follow the instructions included. Sorry I can't provide more in depth instruction here, filters come in all shapes and sizes, trying to go into detail here would be foolish. Read the instructions provided.

4. Add Gravel

Remember to wash it off before putting gravel in your tank. Painted gravel in particular comes with large amounts of residue from the factory, you definitely don't want this stuff in your freshwater aquarium. You want to use approximately 1 pound of gravel per gallon. (Example: 55 gallon take requires about 55 pounds of gravel.

5. Just Add Water!

Fill your freshwater fish aquarium with water. Tap or distilled, it doesn't matter, as we're going to have to add water conditioners to it anyway. You'll want to leave a little but of space at the top of the aquarium for objects you'll want to add next. Tap water and many brands of distilled waters come chock full of unhealthy chemicals including: lead, nitrates, nitrates, chlorine, and more. It is absolutely necessary that you add some water conditioners to the water to stabilize chemical levels in your aquarium. We'll go into more depth on water conditioner on a later article.

6. Plants and Ornaments

This is the fun part for many people. Now is the time to add plants and ornaments. I alway recommend live

plants over fake as they can help prolong the life of your fish and the stability of your aquarium. Not only do live plants provide oxygen for your freshwater aquarium, but they also help comfort your fish. Live plants create great places for your fish to hide and get comfortable, due to the added effect of a more natural habitat.

Also add your aquarium ornaments at this time. Remember, your aquarium ornaments should be washed to remove any residues before being put into the aquarium. Ornaments are also a good way to keep your freshwater fish comfortable.

7. Start Your Engines!

Start running your filter at this point. If you're starting a tropical freshwater aquarium you're also going to need a heater and thermometer. Freshwater tropical fish need water temperatures between 75° F and 80° F. Non-tropical fish, essentially only goldfish, are typically fine with room temperature water..

8. And We Wait...

Even though this is the most simple step of the whole freshwater aquarium setup process, it's also where people mess up the most. Like I said at the beginning of this article, patience is key. It's recommended that you leave your aquarium to sit for at least 24 hours with the filter and heater running. I personally recommend a wait time of at least 72 hours, if not more. This will provide ample time for natural healthy bacterias to form in your aquarium, and will ensure that your water is chemical and toxin-free.

9. Fish, Finally.

After you've made sure the chemical levels in your water are safe (PetSmart offers free water testing or you can purchase test kits for cheap), you can then add your fish. Choosing your fish deserves at least a few articles to itself, so I won't go into great detail. You basically want to keep tropical and cold water freshwater fish separate from each other.

With tropical fish you should allow one gallon of water for every inch of fish (at full size). Aggressive tropical fish require more space in most cases. Goldfish on the other hand should be allowed 2 gallons of water for every inch of fish.

Once you've gotten the fish home float the bag on top of the water. This will allow the temperature of the water in the bag to slowly match the temperature in your aquarium. Wait 30-60 minutes and you can release your fish from the bag.

Now you're all set to enjoy the wonders of your own home freshwater aquarium!