The water for the aquarium should be clean, transparent, containing all the microelements necessary for the life of fish and plants. It takes time and special tools to prepare the aquarium water. So, take regular tap water …
Tap water without boiling is suitable as aquarium water if it does not contain any admixtures of metals, magnesium salts, calcium and other components harmful to fish and plants. All the air and chlorine contained in such water will evaporate in just a week of settling. Looking ahead, we note that you also need to add or change water that is settled or boiled.
If you have access to a spring water spring, you can use it. Just for safety reasons, hold some cheap fish in this aquarium water and watch their well-being - if something goes wrong, it will not be particularly expensive.
If possible, take some of the soil and water used in the other aquarium before pouring water into the aquarium. Thus, you will introduce the necessary microorganisms and speed up the process of establishing the aquarium regime.
One of the most important parameters of aquarium water is its hardness. The possibility of keeping and breeding certain types of fish and cultivating plants depends on the rigidity. Later, the hardness of the water in the aquarium will stabilize in a natural way: it will increase due to the evaporation of water, the life of plants, fish and snails, as they absorb calcium from the water. By the way, it is believed that distilled water has zero hardness.
If the aquarium water is too hard, you can soften it. There are two simple ways to do this: freezing and boiling. In the first case, water is poured into a low frost-resistant vessel of large diameter and placed in a freezer. As soon as the water freezes on the sides, the ice is broken through and the unfrozen water is poured into the sink. The ice remaining in the dish is melted. The water obtained in this way has a much lower hardness. For the second option, the water must be boiled for an hour, cooled and drained 2/3 of the top layer.
The pH value is subject to certain fluctuations. For example, prolonged sunlight in an aquarium with a lot of plants increases its level to 9. At night, the amount of carbon dioxide in aquarium water increases (fish and plants breathe, absorbing oxygen) The pH drops to 6, which is not very good. Monitor your aquarium water with liquid indicators - aquarium water tests.
However, to speed up the process of preparing aquarium water, it is enough to purchase a conditioner for aquarium water at a pet store - a special tool that neutralizes harmful impurities and makes the water suitable for settlement in 10 minutes. The dosage of the conditioner should be strictly observed.
Now you can start actually filling the aquarium with water. Fill the aquarium to a level of 10-15 cm, plant the plants and retrofit the aquarium. When planting is complete, continue filling the container up to 3-5 centimeters from the top of the tank.
After pouring water into the aquarium, complex processes will begin: rotting of broken off plants may begin, the rapid development of microorganisms. Water from clear can become whitish-cloudy. Do not be confused, after a while most microorganisms die, not receiving enough nutrients, the water will regain transparency. To purify water from turbidity, you can populate the aquarium with daphnia, tadpoles, and snails.
To protect the aquarium water from dust, the aquarium must be tightly closed.
The temperature regime of the water in the aquarium must be constantly monitored, since many species of fish and plants have their own, most favorable parameters for their growth and development. The temperature in the aquarium depends on the location of the reservoir: for example, sunlight entering through a room window heats the water. Therefore, the more light, the higher the water temperature. A temperature drop in the aquarium water is undesirable, and its sharp fluctuations are generally unacceptable. It is possible to smoothly change the water temperature by 2-3 ° C, depending on the time of day.
