Top Tips
We have put a collection of videos together with the biggest tips that we pass onto our customers each day. Hopefully they will pass from person to person so we can all enjoy the knowledge.

Mark Smith
Maidstone Aquatics

The very first thing to decide is where your new piece of furniture / Aquarium is going to live.
Measure the space that you have made for your Aquarium so that when you visit us at the shop we can guide you to the right sizes then pick the larges tank that will fit into this space.

This is not a sales pitch, Fish keeping is very very addictive and you will wish you had bought the larger tank.

When choosing the site for your new tank try not to place it opposite a window as this will have an effect on the Algae growth in your tank. Also try to avoid in front of a radiator, as this will have an effect on the temperature of the tank during the winter months. Site the Aquarium on a firm floor footing.

Most Aquariums can be bought with a purpose built cabinet this is the best thing to sit your Aquarium on, but if you wish to use your own base then make sure it is firm and of stable structure, don’t forget water weighs 10lb per gall/4.5lt.

Get your Aquarium home and give it a wipe out with a damp cloth to remove dust or debris.
At this stage you need to put your tank backing on to the tank, if you have a printed back ground then cut it to size and secure it with cellotape we find that this sticks the best. If you are using an internal structured background cut to size, and glue in with Aquatic silicon and allow to dry.
Place your tank and cabinet in its allocated space following the manufactures and our instructions.
 Caution  do not turn anything on at this stage.

Time to wash your gravel. Best way is to get a plastic washing up bowl ½ fill with gravel turn on the cold tap and stir and pour until the water runs clean then place gently into the tank, having finished the gravel carefully place your ornaments into the tank making sure that they can not fall onto the glass.

Time to fill the Aquarium with water. As a little tip place a plastic bin liner over the gravel and pour the water on to the bag at all times, this will keep the water nice and clear during filling. Use warm water from the tap and stop filling at the ¾ mark so you can put your plants into your tank, finish topping the tank up to the correct level, now put in your water conditioner that we recommended.
 Check that all the equipment is in correctly and you are satisfied

NOW TURN IT ON. WELCOME TO YOUR AQUARIUM

You should now monitor the temperature of your tank between 24-27c for tropical fish, room temperature for cold water, and that the water is nice and clear.

We will see you in 7 days for your first fish

FIRST FISH

Now its time to buy your first fish for your new Aquarium.

We would ask at this stage that you remind us that this is a new Aquarium and these are your first fish, also that you have tropical fish or cold water.

Your Aquarium is at the moment not mature, which means that the Biological Filtration is not yet working, so we need to choose the type and number of fish carefully,
The maturation of your tank is called the Nitrogen cycle it will take up to 6 weeks to mature.

We will guide you to certain types of fish ones that are hardier than others and will cope with the forthcoming water quality issues.
We like to suggest that you choose from Danios Swordtails, Platies and some species of tetra, we will clearly point these out to you.

Depending on the size of your Aquarium and type of filtration we would suggest 8 –12 fish to start you off.
This is not too many and will start the Biological cycle.

Take your fish home and place the bags on top of the water remembering about water displacement so you may have to remove some water, open the bags and turn down the ends so the bags float do this for 20 minutes add a small amount of your tank water to the bag every 4 to 5 minutes after the 20 minutes release your fish into the tank.

Now the maturation of your tank starts, unfortunately this will see an increase in the ammonia and then the Nitrite levels, this is normal and part of the Nitrogen cycle.

So use the bacteria boost product that we recommended to you and do 10% to 20 % water changes on a daily basis again use the water conditioner that we recommended, water changes will help dilute the nitrites in the water, keep this up until the nitrite levels have gone.

You can bring us in a water sample about 50mls of water will do and we will test your water for you.  IT’S FREE.
Or you can buy a test kit of your own.

This process can take up to 6 weeks so please be patient and do not get tempted to buy more fish before your Nitrite levels start to lower. Once the Nitrites reach a low level you can put some more fish into your tank.

Feeding your fish should be restricted to once every other day for now once the Nitrite levels has gone then we can start feeding once a day