Having bought a new house, my wife and i always think of improvising it to get the interior look better. We always liked the factor called fish (not as food, as a pet) I tossed the idea of ‘why not’...án aquarium : ) she immediately agreed and my son was equally enthusiastic. So, i researched about aquarium shops and through my colleague came to know about this huge n famous fishing farm thatz like 2-3 kms away from my home.
The place name is Qian Hu Fish Farm. They infact provide
free shuttle from Choa Chu Kang bus interchange. You can find all details in
this link. Two
weeks ago, we made this decision to set up an aquarium and promptly reached the
aquarium with little knowledge on aquarium fundamentals. The place is so huge
and well maintained. The humungous collection of fishes just made my jaw drop.
There is a separate huge place for just accessories where you can find all
required ingredients to set up an aquarium.
 |
| The complete Tank |
The Tank:
I wanted to buy reasonably huge tank but i preferred frameless
rectangular, short and wide glass tank. The shop also sells readymade tank
where you don’t need to set up anything, just plug n play. So, we decided to assemble our own aquarium to
suit our taste and comfort by hand picking items. I roughly believe my tank is
60 cms length, 30 cms breadth and 40 cms height. This can hold atleast 3
buckets of water. The tank cost is 60$. Good start
Gravel:
The next must have item is the gravel layer. There were lots
of choices in all colours. I liked the assorted mix of few colours. If you decide to plug in real plants, you
need to buy those fertilizers, sand accordingly. I thought better stick to
gravel first and plug artificial stuffs to begin with.
Fillers:
The next is the decorative fillers inside the tank. Normally,
people go for artificial plants to place everywhere in tank. Since my tank is
considerably huge, we decided to buy this real wood and place it inside.
Rock:
The friendly staffs from the shop advised that the wood i
selected will actually float in the aquarium and i need to buy a rock in order
to fix the wood firmly to aquarium base. Hence, i chose a strong rock as a
wood-dragger-weight to my aquarium.
Over head light:
To me, this is very important for aquarium. The fishes don’t
like heat but definitely likes light. Especially, when they have to eat. Also,
a well illuminated tank is a beauty indeed.
Water Filter:
This is the most important element of your aquarium. No matter
how perfectly you maintain an aquarium, you can never replicate the natural
environment the fish lives in a river or pond or sea. All we do in aquarium is
to bring the best we could to provide a good life to the tenants. The tap water
we fill in aquarium is not ideal for fishes due to the pH level and the
presence of chlorine. Hence, its required to fix the filter and get it running
for a week or so before you add fishes in. The filter basically sucks the water in filter
it out using the chemical medium and sends the cleaned water back in
aquarium. The fish in the aquarium eat a lot and apparently poops a lot too.
They also release tons of ammonia from the body. The filter also cleans the
water to an extent to filter out the ammonia and excretion. On top of using
filter, its still required to change 20-30% of water every week from the
aquarium to allow fresh clean water to accommodate. Remember, this ammonium rich water is the favorite food for PLANTS.
So far, we went through the basic items needed for aquarium set
up. I also picked minor stuffs like Water guard liquid (to reduce chlorine
content) , Artificial plants (for decoration)
The next step, get all the stuffs back home safely with
out a crack. Then rinse all the items well in the tap water and soak the rock, wood and gravel in a separate bucket for over
night. The next day, fill the tank with layered gravel, wood and rock. Fill
water, switch on filter and let it run for a week. This is to prepare the water
for the tenants next week.
One week later, i went back to same farm this time to buy
fishes. Its now matter of visiting each tank and pick your favourites. Once you
are done with your choices, just confirm with the staff there to make sure if
all your picks will be ok to live in a same enclosure. Don’t forget to buy the
fish food (flakes) and net along. To begin with, i just picked all those less expensive fishes to test out the set up.
Over all, its been close to 3 weeks and we (my wife, my son
and i) never regret setting up the aquarium. We enjoy feeding them, regular
cleaning of filters, checking out the fishes. Slowly create a bonding. Last week, one of the fish’s layed dozens of
eggs. There were few tinies popped out swimming everywhere. Sadly, all got
eaten by the other big tenants before we take any action.
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