Author Archives: Andrew

There are many different ways in which fish can act and many things which can effect their behavior.
The most popular things to look out for are:
If your fish are spending a lot of time at the surface, this could be due to there being a lack of oxygen in the water therefore they are gasping

There are many long term plans you can put into place but we find most of the time we are never prepared for the worst.
The immediate things to do would be to cover your tank in an insulated material, blanket etc (not anything with lose fibres like loft insulation)
Make sure the room your tank is

Some heaters come with a plastic protection shield which surrounds the heater like the iQuatics Aquarad. They are easy to fit and help to prevent the fish from burning themselves on the heater. If the heater doesn't come with a plastic shield then you can use a suitable plastic mesh but this may restrict the

In general dust can build up from the gravel rubbing against each other. It's best to rinse all gravel and any other items like figures, wood etc you may wish to put into your tank to reduce the amount of dust. Never use any chemicals for doing this. Just normal tap water will be fine.

Most of the new types of fluorescent tubes are triphoshor which means there are 3 phosphors used to coat the inside of the tubes. This will be better than older styled tubes for the following reasons:  Increased light levels, extended lamp life, reduced maintenance/energy costs and Improved colour rendering.

In most cases of a tropical test kits they are accurate enough but the downfall is usually they have a restricted shelf like.  More and more fish keepers are reverting to using an electronic tester which are easier, less time consuming and more accurate.

They can be higher priced than the standard chemical test kit.

When you keep wild caught fish it can sometime be difficult to get them into a feeding pattern as they are use to moving live foods. You should be able to entice the fish to eat live foods as they react to the movement. Over time the fish will get used to this and you

In general there is no set rule but once your tank is setup and well established, you should be able to monitor it once a fortnight. If you feel some change has occurred then it would be an ideal time to check the water parameters.

In theory the answer is yes due to the natural nitrogen process taking place but usually tanks are kept with high level of livestock thus producing a large amount of waste so personally speaking I don't think it is wise to setup a tank without any filtration. There are many means of filtration available. We

If you feel you don't have enough from the 2 outlets, you are able to purchase a cost effective T piece which will allow you to increase the number of outlets. Bare in mind that there is a restriction to the number of devices one pump can control.