Easily Available and Attractive Aquarium Décor You Need To Avoid

Aquarium decorations are sometimes over-prioritized by the fish-keepers that they add unnecessary objects just for the sake of decorating their tanks. But, they fail to realize that they may make the life of the fish stressed due by doing adding decorations or specifically unnecessary decorations.

As a fish-keeper, you need to know which decors are mandatory and which are optional and add them accordingly. Apart from the gravels and aquatic plants, everything else is from the genre of aquarium décor, and you will get a lot of options to decorate your aquarium.

In order to assist you in decorating your aquarium, here we have listed some attractive accessories which you can never use as aquarium décor. Take a look and decorate wisely:

Coins or Other Metals

We all have the thought to put some coins in our freshwater aquarium to make our aquarium look like a treasury. You must remember that an aquarium is a home for the fish, and you cannot pace anything just because it makes your aquarium beautiful.

Coins contain metals, especially copper, and like other metals, coins also get oxidized (like rust). At the time of getting damaged, they release toxins that can harm any aquarium fish.

Not only that, it pollutes the water slowly. Along with changing the chemistry of water, the particles may be sometimes consumed by the fish itself, which may give birth to multiple diseases.

You can test it by taking a small quantity of prepared aquarium water in a jar and keeping any metal in it for 5-7 days. Most of the metals may react within this timeframe. You will see the metal object is getting corrosion and becoming frail day by day. With water testing, you can identify how much the metal has changed the water.

Shells, Corals, and Colorful Stones

Maybe you have recently visited a beach and collected a lot of shells of different patterns and designs. You may have a hobby of collecting corals or stones too.

Even though you have a good collection of all these, you cannot place them in your aquarium. As you are the owner of a freshwater aquarium, you have to take care of every small requirement of the fish. You cannot even use these objects as the substrates too.  

You must have the idea that all these objects contain calcium at a very high rate, and this calcium can change the chemistry of aquarium water. It is beyond mention that it is very unhealthy for all freshwater fish. Along with that, pH level and water hardness get changed because of the presence of these objects.

Plastic Toys

You should have the idea that your aquarium is not a place to provide a second life to the plastic toys of your childhood. You may have plastic fish, too, but you cannot place it in the aquarium.

Actually, the aggressive ones tend to displace the decors, and some extremely aggressive ones may swallow the small toys. Small fish may chew the toys, which will cause decay in their health.

Sometimes the toys are painted with acrylic colors to make it more attractive. But after some days, you will see that the colors are leaving the toys and color particles are polluting the water.

Plastic is dangerous as it releases toxins, so there will always be a big NO for any plastic objects. You may get a handful of ideas from YouTube to make décor from plastic bottles, but each of them will be bad for the fish.

Any toy with sharp edges can harm the tail and fin and tails of the fish. So irrespective of how many toys you have, you cannot use them as your aquarium décor.

Clay and Ceramic Made Items

These objects may allow you to decorate your aquarium in a very low budget, but the fact is low-quality clay toys may dilute in water and make the water contaminated.

Of course, you can add high-quality clay and ceramic objects. According to the experts, you can put the ceramics and clay objects in the aquarium if they are safe for human beings to eat in.

Anything Small

Well, the beads of your favorite dress will indeed complement the fish, but you have to resist yourself as you cannot add that in your aquarium.

Most of the fish tend to bite and chew the objects. It is not that they will eat the items, but if that item is unsafe, the fish may consume the toxins and chemicals in it and fall sick.

In case the object is not strongly stuck with the aquarium, the large fish may swallow the item and get fatal diseases.

Wood, Rock, and Glass

Objects made of wood, rock, and glass available in the pet stores can definitely be used in any aquarium. However, these objects available around you can be much unsafe to use as all may possibly have sharp edges that may physically harm the fish.

If you are professional enough to provide these a blunt shape towards the edges by reducing its sharpness, you can use it.

You need to understand that anything available around you is not safe enough to decorate the aquarium. When the item is painted, you have to say goodbye to the thought of using it in the aquarium.

For the wooden objects, apart from the driftwood, you cannot use anything else. It’s because cleaning the piece of wood not be enough. This same thing is applicable for the fancy rocks. You cannot use any rocks available outside without testing. For the sake of decorating, you will definitely not want to harm the fish, so skip these objects.

Along with these objects, there are multiple other objects which you cannot put in the aquarium. Actually, a fish consider everything in the aquarium as eatables, and a large fish or small species will either try to eat that or try to destroy the decorations. The result in both cases will be the same – polluted water or to be more specific, water with the massive chemical change, and deterioration in fish health. So beware of adding these products.

Old Tank Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes, Cures and More

Some aquarium owners consider that their aquarium is a one-time investment, but after a few months, some change in it becomes mandatory. It is not that the tank is not clean or there is an excessive algae problem, but, due to the unhygienic condition of the aquarium itself, the chemistry of water will be changed. As a result, fishes will not be healthy enough.

How to Know Your Aquarium Has Old Aquarium Syndrome

Here are the general symptoms of old aquarium syndrome:

•          Excessive nitrate and phosphate level even after cleaning and water changing

•          The hardness of water is not according to the guidelines even after making the adjustments

•         pH level will fall to acidic

•         Carbonate level will also vary right after one or two days of making the adjustments

•          Any new fish will die

Remember, you can change the water frequently or clean it once a week to reduce nitrate or phosphate, which will ultimately give stress to the fishes. Opt for partial cleaning to reduce this stress.

Causes of Old Aquarium Syndrome

According to the name, it is very clear that the aquarium is not a healthy place for the fishes any more as it has incurable problems. The aquariums are like the houses, and as old houses become unhygienic due to improper maintenance, the aquariums too become unhygienic for the fishes.

Another cause of old aquarium syndrome is the lack of cleaning. The uneaten food particles and fish wastes may be stuck to the bottom of the aquarium. As a result, the water you are pouring every time is getting unhealthy. Actually, every time you skip the cleaning, it gets more and more difficult for you the clean the dirt because it stuck in the gravels as well as to the bottom of the aquarium.

Owners may be negligent as they have already fitted a filter in their aquarium. This reason is very common for not cleaning the aquariums. Filter indeed cleans but filter does not necessarily clean the chemicals like nitrate or phosphate which directly mix up in the water and pollutes the water. That results in the trouble of the fishes.

Well, all this do not happen in a day, and the fish get enough time to cope up with the changes in the aquarium. That’s why they survive, but a new fish will not be able to cope up with this and die soon.

Cures of This Syndrome

As it is recommended not to make any extreme changes at once, slow changes will help to cure this old aquarium syndrome too. Go for partial water changing and change 10% to 15% water every day. Every time you do partial water changing, make sure you test the water for nitrate level, phosphate level, and pH balance. Alternatively, you can go for stabilizing to make visible changes. This testing is very necessary to know whether the adjustments you are making are giving any positive result or not.

Things to Follow To Stop This Syndrome from Coming Back

It will not be wrong, to sum up, that old tank syndrome is a result of human negligence, and we can actually prevent this syndrome by being more careful. Sounds weird? Maybe, but, it is a fact that you can prevent this by scheduled cleaning and testing. Partial water change needs to be done each week to prevent a major problem. Fitting the filter will not solve these problems. You can try manual cleaning as well to stop this syndrome from coming back.

Keep a record of the testing so that you can understand the small changes. It will allow you to take preventive measures without wasting any time. Testing is given more importance here because you may not observe the minor differences, which testing will show.

A quick guide to get rid of green hair algae in saltwater aquarium

Green hair algae are almost synonymous to a mess for the saltwater aquarium owners. The greeny base in the saltwater aquarium is sometimes life-threatening to your fish, and once it starts growing, it soon captures most of your tank, and thereby it makes the aquarium uncomfortable and suffocating for the fishes.

Before knowing the methods of curing your aquarium of green hair algae, you need to know the suitable growth condition of green hair algae. Three factors promote the growth of green hair algae; these are light, nitrate, phosphate. Nitrate forms by any kinds of nitrogen waste, cheap sea salt, or polluted water. Phosphate is the end products of remaining particles of fish food, and it also comes from pH buffers and also from dead algae or fish. To control green hair algae, you need to have control over these sources which make a suitable condition for growth for these algae.

Once you see a green base in your saltwater aquarium, you need to test nitrate and phosphate level in your aquarium. You will find different tools and kits to measure this. After you identify this, you can follow these methods:

Steps to reduce nitrate

Nitrate reduction is an important step when you are planning to get rid of green hair algae for a long term

Change Water

To reduce nitrate, the best option is to change the water. It will instantly clean the tank and speed up the reduction process. By doing this, you will be able to reduce the nitrate level only. Now, what about the source of nitrate?

Aquarium Cleaning

To destroy the sources of nitrates, you need to clean the aquarium on time. You can manually remove the green hair algae. Alternatively, you can go through the siphoning technique as well to get rid of green hair algae. Also, you can siphon the food particles and the fish wastes too.

Use of Nitrate removers

Presently, there are several options to get rid of nitrate; nitrate sponge is one of these options. In addition to this, you can use di-nitrate solutions as well. Along with these, Poly Filter Pads and Acurel Nitrate Reducing Pads are giving intense satisfaction to the owners right now. You can use any of these according to your budget, and you can be sure about the results.  

Mangrove plants

If you want long term results, you can add some mangrove plants in your saltwater tank. It is a natural method of nitrate control in any aquarium.

Keep in mind that proper maintenance is the secret of nitrate reduction in a saltwater tank.

Steps to reduce phosphate

Nitrate reduction will not be enough to get rid of green hair algae; you need to reduce phosphate as well.

Changing Water

Phosphate can come in the aquarium if you continue to use tap water in your aquarium. It comes from any kinds of dirt. You can temporarily get rid of the problem by changing the water, but phosphate level will continue to grow again until you change the source of water. It means if you keep using tap water, you can probably see a higher level of phosphate.

Use of pure water

Here, you are advised to use the RO/DI water. It will control the level of phosphate in your aquarium.

Phosphate removers

In the market, there are various products available to reduce the phosphate level like Phos-guard, Phos-ban. You can select any of these according to your budget.

Mangrove plants

The mangrove plants which are commonly used as nitrate remover can also be used here as well. These mangrove plants will be placed in the forms of seed which will protect the base of your aquarium.

Additionally, you can try the vodka method that has recently come in the limelight and appeared to be a successful method to reduce nitrate and phosphate level and produce a green hair algae free aquarium. To try this method you need to be very particular about the measurement because a slight mismatch can lead to a negative result.