Equipment

What You Need and Why


Many people have attempted to start an aquarium without researching the equipment they will need. Unfortunately, many of these aquarists fail with their aquariums and claim that the hobby is just too hard. By first knowing what's available and the pricing, I hope this equipment guide can enlighten you on making your decisions when shopping around.

This guide is listed in alphabetical order of many types of aquarium equipment. Following the type of device, a rating is given as to whether you must have one to have an aquarium (*MUST*), whether it would help tremendously but is only optional (*OPT*), or whether you want every single type of equipment made for an aquarium and for luxury (*LUX*).

After a description of the piece of equipment, there will be a run down on quality and affordability (Budget-cheapest, Beginners-good price and good quality, Experts-top of the line and price range). Due to GeoCities guidelines, I'm forbidden to list prices, so check out your nearest PETsMART for the finances.

Heater-(*MUST*)

A heater is essential to keeping an aquarium at a comfortable temperature for your fish. You do not need a heater, however, if you plan to keep goldfish. All tropicals do need a heater to keep the water at around 75ºF (24ºC), which most are comfortable at. Of the different types of heaters available, I would recommend against getting a submersible heater. I prefer the heaters with which the top of the heater with the control dial is out of the water at the back of your aquarium. Submersible heaters are difficult to troubleshoot and to get at for maintenance. Selecting the wattage needed to heat your aquarium is easy. Simply multiply the amount of gallons your tank holds by 6 to get the wattage needed. If you find yourself in between heater sizes, here is a small rundown on tank sizes and wattage needed.

Tank Size (in US Gallons)	Heater You'll Need
10	75watts
15	100watts
20	125watts
25	150watts
29	175watts
35	2 heaters each 100watts
55	2 heaters each 150watts

You'll see that as you get to the bigger sized tanks, it's better to have two smaller sized heaters than one big heater to warm your tank evenly and thoroughly.

Along with your heater, you'll need a thermometer of some sort. It doesn't really matter what type of thermometer you get, but if you get one that's a strip that you stick on the outside of your aquarium glass, your tank must be glass. If you've got a plastic tank with this type of thermometer, the temperature given will be closer to the room temperature, rather than the tank's (because plastic insulates heat so well). If you happen to buy a Fahrenheit thermometer, but wanted to have your tank measured in Centigrade (Celsius), or vice versa, the following conversion guide will help out a lot.

Centigrade	Fahrenheit
20	68.0
21	69.8
22	71.6
23	73.4
24	75.2
25	77.0
26	78.8
27	80.6
28	82.4
29	84.2
30	86.0

Budget/Beginners - TopFin Aquarium Heater or Hertz Aquarium Heater
Expert - Any type of heater that has separate controllers and is $30 (CDN) more

Filter-(*MUST*)

There are many types of filters in the world of aquariums, some are very useful while others are quite gimmicky. A filter is used to clean and filter (hence the name) the aquarium water so that the fish and certain good types of bacteria can live and thrive. If a filter is not used, very frequent water changes will be needed and many of the fish will perish due to poor water quality.
Many of the different types of filters on the market clean the water well, and only need there filter media replaced once every other month or so (unless your tank is stocked to the max, or if it's a show tank). Filter media is what the aquarium water passes through as it gets cleaned. A power filter is a perfect example of how media cleans the water. A power filter (pictured to the right) is a simple, box-shaped object that hangs off the back of your aquarium. It pulls water up through a siphon powered by a small motor and then sends it through different media before returning it to the tank. The first thing that is passes through filters the water mechanically, meaning that it takes out all the big pieces of stuff that shouldn't be in the aquarium water (uneaten food, waste, algae clumps, etc.) The mechanical media usually consists of a block of foam or a clump of blue 'filter floss'. From here, the water continues out through the foam and enters the chemical media. This is usually Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC, as it's known), a small package of carbon that absorbs some of the bad chemicals from the water. From here, the water is either returned to the aquarium by a small water-fall-like spout, a spray bar, or is filtered through a third media before going back to the tank. Used in AquaClear filters, a third section of the filter is devoted to a cartridge called AM-RID. Basically, it helps remove ammonia (fish waste chemicals) from the water, so in fact it's a second type of chemical filtration. On top of all this, bacteria loom inside of the filter and in the aquarium gravel. These bacteria are good bacteria, because they help break down the waste and such and use it as food (this is called biological filtration). A power filter is a great choice for any freshwater aquarium, and the only maintenance needed is that the media cartridges are rinsed weekly and replaced every second month (unless specified above).
A filter that relies entirely on biological filtration is an undergravel filter. To describe simply, it's a large plate that sits under the gravel out of sight. What you do see, however, is something like a large power filter siphon coming up from the gravel. Here's a quick explanation on how this type of filter works. First this tube is taking water from under the filter plate (which is under the gravel) and sucking it up to the top of the aquarium, where it is let go. Now in order for that to happen, the water must come from the aquarium and pass through the gravel and the plate to create circulation. As the water passes through the gravel, it also passes through tons and tons of bacteria colonies that live in the gravel. Here, the water is filtered by these bacteria and cleaned of bad things that you don't want. These aquariums are good because they need very little maintenance. But, if they do require work to be done, they are very hard to service if your aquarium is full of water, fish, and plants! **On a side note, if you purchase one of these filters, be sure to get one that the 'uplift tube' is powered by a powerhead rather than an airstone. A power head is simply a small pump that works much more efficiently than a small airstone.
Although these are the two most common types of filters, there are others. A sponge filter, for example, is a small sponge like airstone that passes water through it. These are ideal for tanks in which fry are being raised in. Another type of filter for fry tanks is an internal box filter (a lot like a power filter that sits inside of your aquarium). For those of you that drive Mercedes cars, have executive positions in your company, or take trips to Waikiki biannually, why don't you go for a top-of-the-line filter? A perfect example would be a powerful external canister filter. This is much like a high powered power filter except that it can be placed under the aquarium or out of sight somewhere else. Another type of filter used usually only by advanced aquarists is a trickle filter. A trickle filter can be stored away from the tank much like a canister filter can be, but requires much more space. Although trickles are usually only used in salt-water aquariums, some heavily stocked cichlid tanks benefit from them, too.

Budget - A small generic brand power filter.
Beginner - An AquaClear power filter or any undergravel filter.
Expert - Try something like a H.O.T. Magnum, a canister filter, a trickle filter, or a Millennium 3000 Wet-Dry Multi-Filter

Lighting-(*MUST*) but can be (*OPT*)

First off, let me explain why I put lighting as a MUST and OPT. It can be optional only if a) You plan on keeping your aquarium in a well lit room by sunlight b) You only plan on keeping fish that prefer subdued lighting c) You hope on keeping only plastic plants. If you want to go real cheap, you don't really need lighting, but why have an aquarium if you can't show it off to people the way it was meant to be seen.
Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, let's talk about lights. First off, the most two common types of lighting are fluorescent tubes and tungsten (incandescent) lamps. Tungsten are cheaper, but come with many disadvantages. First of all, they require a lot more energy than fluorescent tubes (which are very power efficient) and burn out a lot. Also, aquatic plants require certain wavelengths of light for optimum growth. Many fluorescent tubes produce these wavelength (which also benefit fish), while tungsten bulbs lack these. Fish also look better (meaning that their colors are much brighter and more vivid, like this Gold Gourami pictured here) under these types of lights.
A rough guide to follow for how much lighting is required for your aquarium is simple. If you're using tungsten bulbs, then about 40 watts of lighting is needed for every 12 inches (30 cm) of aquarium length. If you plan on using fluorescent tube lighting, than about 10 watts of lighting is needed for every 12 inches of aquarium length.
For all types of aquariums, cover glass (or plastic) is needed to reduce evaporation losses and to stop dust from getting in the water. They also prevent floating plants from overheating and active fish from leaping out of the tank.

Budget - If you don't buy any lighting, at least by a tank cover
Beginner - Fluorescent tube lights preferred; otherwise tungsten
Expert - Fluorescent light fixture custom made for your tank

Aerator-(*OPT*)

Many beginning aquarists think (as I did, too) that having a small airstone bubbling during the day would be needed. However, I found out that I don't really need one, and I'll tell you why here. First off, the myth that people believe is that air bubbles when floating through water help replenish oxygen in the aquarium. Instead, aeration helps replenish oxygen in the water when it creates turbulence (ripples) on the water's surface, as well as it's ability to help the water's circulation (something that is partially done by filtering, heating, and fish).
Ripples of the water surface greatly increase it's surface area, which means that the water can get rid of carbon dioxide and take in oxygen better and more efficiently.
Air is provided by an air pump, which is just a small motor driven device that sends air through aquarium tubing. **Although on a side note, buying silicon tubing is much more advised that regular plastic tubing. Plastic tubing cracks and breaks when it gets old, while silicon tubing is supposed to last a life time, and be more flexible.** To control the airflow given by an air pump (or if you plan on having more than 1 object powered by air), buying gang valves will solve your problem. A gang valve is a small device that allows you to adjust how much air is being put through an airstone as well as splitting up the air and distributing it evenly between two, three, four, or more different objects requiring air.
If you plan on having a filter that requires the use of an aerator (ie: an Undergravel filter), then by all means you must have one.

Budget - A small, non adjustable sub $20 air pump (ie: the one pictured on the right)
Beginner - An aerator that has an adjustable knob on it (ie: the one pictured on the left)
Expert - Anything over $50 US or $80 CDN (or anything that runs silently)

Substrate-(*MUST*)

Anyone who has owned an aquarium knows that substrate is vital in an aquarium. It servers the purpose of recreating the fish's natural environment. But, it also serves a much more practical use in the home aquarium. The substrate houses most of the bacteria in the aquarium, which are essential to the fish. If you are using an undergravel filter, then you might want to have approximately 50% more substrate than what you would normally use to house the bacteria.

Budget / Beginner - A typical, buy at the store gravel from the size of a ball point pen tip to an pencil's eraser head
Expert - Many experts use this gravel as well, however, some use a much finer substrate like sand for certain types of aquariums.

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Well, this is a start to the equipment section. More will eventually come, but until then I am going to be working on the aquarium set-up pages, so sit back and relax.

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