by Frank Mamone

The total aquarium is something more than the sum of all its parts. To have a complete aquarium selecting the proper equipment, accessories, and inhabitants is the first stage. Setting them up in a balanced, harmonious setting is the second stage. Bellow is a step-by step procedure:

1) The first thing you have to do is to clean up the tank by washing tank thoroughly with water and a clean rag (use no soap or detergent).

2) Place tank into permanent position, to avoid breakage and disorganization of the community during movement.

3) Place the filter plate, and any necessary tubing under the tank.

4) Wash sand or gravel and spread it into the tank, sloping from back to front. Level of gravel should vary from three inches to one inch.

5) Place under water ornamental materials like bogwood, rocks, shells etc at strategic spots inside the tank. Attach tubing to aerating ornaments.

6) Place a sheet of newspaper or polythene over the gravel. On the top of this, place a saucer or small pen.

7) Fill about a quarter or half of the tank with prepared water.

8) Remove the paper or nylon and dispose it.

9) Adjust gravel and ornaments displaced by the water.

10) Rinse plant materials.

11) Plant large vegetation in corners, and graduate in a design which follows a pleasant regular line - curve, parabola, slope etc. Larger plants should be placed toward the rear.

12) Trim dead or broken leaves.

13) Finish filling tank by pouring water gently (on palm may be held under the water to halt the pressure of falling water.

14) Start up the filter and ornaments and adjust

15 Check the temperature, hardness, pH, and chlorine neutralizer with test kit if necessary.

 16) Add one teaspoonful of salt for each five gallons of water if brackish water species are to be introduced.

17) Plug on the lights and leave on for 72 hours to provide light for the new plants.

 18) Allow aquarium water to stand for three days before introducing fish.

by Frank Mamone

Well designed and carefully laid out rockwork can enhance the appearance of the aquarium. In choosing the right kind of rock, natural water-worn stone is best. Other rocks free from line are satisfactory, but artificial objects and lumps of coloured glass are not to be recommended.

Since the rockwork in many aquariums is badly arranged, it is worth while to make mention of the techniques of rock setting. The method of haphazardly placing large clumps of rock should be done away with. The appearance is rarely natural and the fishes tend to stay out of view behind the rocks much of the time. Sediment, uneaten food and even a dead fish can lodge behind a stone, decompose and brew trouble for the aquarist.

A better method is to set up the rockwork in a series of steps by building an irregular line of rocks standing on end and embedding them into sand near the front. The entire area, behind is filled with sand as before. There are now three levels. If the work is done properly, only the front face of the rocks will be seen and there will be nowhere for dead fishes or sediment to lodge.

On each layer the tops of the plants just reach to the bottom of those behind. The artistically minded aquarist has plenty of scope to create a most beautiful effect and when the fish are introduced they prefer to swim in the foreground and the undulating background is most natural and pleasing. There is a host of miscellaneous coloured ornaments on the market such as stream house will, wind mills, reclining mermaids, castles, sunken ships, divers, starfish, etc.

For those who like these and perhaps in a children’s nursery, they may add colour and amusement. But surely there is nothing more attractive than a natural underwater setting where the colours of the fish mingle with the various shades of the plants and the tints of the rocks.