If you decide to start aquarium fish, then, no doubt, go to learn more about how to properly keep them. In addition to information about the fish and other inhabitants of the aquarium, it will be useful for you to find out what equipment is needed and how to properly install it in the aquarium.
Essential equipment for an aquarium
1. The most important thing for an aquarium is a compressor , a device by which water in the aquarium is saturated with oxygen. Beautiful air bubbles, emerging to the surface - this is the result of the compressor. The "bubble lift" function facilitates faster mixing of water layers in the tank, leveling out the temperature, and destroying the dust and bacterial film on the water surface.
Compressors are vibratory (based on the action of the magnetic field) and battery (not connected to the power grid). The most optimal for a home aquarium are vibratory compressors. However, their main disadvantage is noise. When purchasing a compressor, try to choose a model with a low noise level.
2. One more detail of the equipment necessary for cleaning the aquarium is the filter . They come in the following forms:
- mechanical (clean the container of small particles of soil, substrate for the bottom, dead pieces of plants and other solids);
- biological (eliminate the products of life of waterfowl);
- chemical (neutralize harmful chemical compounds formed in water).
Also, the filters for the aquarium are external and internal: they are attached to the wall or look like a falsity, and some of them are located in a curbstone (canister filters). The flow of water through the filter is usually achieved with a pump or bubble elevator.
3. A heater and a thermostat for an aquarium is not a luxury, but very important appliances that heat water and constantly maintain it in the right temperature regime. For exotic fish, this is the only acceptable option for existence, because at normal room temperature, especially in the cold season, they can die. These two devices in the modern industrial assembly are most often combined. The most common heaters for aquariums are spiral (open or hermetic).
The power of the heater should be chosen in such a way: 1 watt of water per 1 watt of power: for example, for an aquarium with a capacity of 100 liters you need a device with a capacity of 100 watts, or even better - two heaters of 50 watts each (in case of failure of one of them) .
With regard to the installation of heating equipment in the aquarium, it should be located in the flow of water for a more even temperature distribution.
4. Lighting is an important factor in aquaristics. It should be such that it is beneficial to illuminate the beauty of the inhabitants of your aquarium and at the same time be comfortable for the fish themselves. To do this, it is preferable to use modern mercury lamps, which are installed from above. This is physiological, since in nature water bodies are always illuminated from above, and economically enough. Do not try to illuminate and heat the aquarium at the same time with a powerful incandescent lamp: water can overheat, and when the light is off, it will be too cold for fish.
Equipment for a marine aquarium filled with salt water and inhabited by suitable inhabitants is the same as for a freshwater tank, but there are additional devices that are required to maintain the right habitat.
Also there are aquariums with built-in equipment . Their advantage is that you do not need to think about the choice of the above devices. Among the disadvantages, it should be noted the relatively high cost of such aquariums and possible difficulties with fixing and replacing each individual device.