Home ยป Freshwater & Saltwater Walkthrough Guide

Step By Step Freshwater Aquarium Setup

  1. Make sure to place the aquarium stand on sturdy floor that will resist the weight for a very long period of time. For example, an aquarium larger than 200 gal you might want to have it in a first floor or a very sturdy building floor, (No wooden floor) preferably concrete. Water can get very heavy.
  2. Rinse with warm water all elements that will go inside the tank, including the tank. You could use natural sponge, dishwashing sponges might contain harmful chemicals packed from the factory, so they need to be avoided.
  3. Rinse the substrate using the colander and place it in the 5 gallon bucket.
  4. If you are going to use an undergravel filter, now it’s the time to install it. Follow the instructions that your specific undergravel filter came with.
  5. If you used an undergravel filter, cover it with the sensed substrate, otherwise, you can place around 2” of substrate at the bottom of your tank.
  6. Because we want to be flexible with the different equipment you would want to have in your aquarium, this is the time to install filters, powerheads and your heater following the instructions that came with the specific model you purchased. It is always better to follow the instructions of each piece of equipment for the installation.
  7. After all the basic equipment has been installed, place your decorations, you might want to use some decorations to camouflage some equipment, or you might not, it’s up to you. Air pumps are optional, but if you got one and you want to provide more aeration you might want to install airstone decorations.
  8. Fill up the tank with RO treated water, or tap water. You can use buckets, or you could use a No Spill Clean And Fill hose, Python, which is a good investment because you will need to do water changes, and that will simplify your task greatly for years to come.
  9. Check your tank for leaks. This is especially important if you are using an all glass aquarium.
  10. Add water conditioner make sure that eliminates both Chlorine and Chloramines at the same time.
  11. Turn on all the equipment and cover your tank with the canopy. Turn on the lights in your canopy also. You will keep your aquarium running this way for 3 or 4 days, to let all the filtration processes to get started. Check on the filtration processes to make sure they are working properly and the temperature of your tank.
  12. To jumpstart the Nitrogen cycle, you can go 2 ways, the first one is The Hardy fish cycling or The Fishless cycling. The Fishless Cycling This process can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. To learn more about the biological cycle you can read it at the The Nitrogen Cycle Area
  • ""