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Beginners Guide to The Aquarium Hobby Part 2: Everything You Need to Start an Aquarium! — Transcript

by Prime Time Aquatics · 3,011 words · 481 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00hello everyone this is jason from
0:01primetime aquatics and in this video i
0:03am super excited to bring you part two
0:05of the beginner's guide to the aquarium
0:07hobby in this video we are going to be
0:09looking at
0:10all of the things that you need to start
0:13your aquarium
0:14fish keeping hobby hope you enjoy the
0:16video appreciate you being here
0:18so i know for new fish keepers it can be
0:20so confusing
0:22what do you need to start a fish tank
0:24i'm hoping i can bring my 41 years of
0:26fish keeping experience along with the
0:2780 fish tanks that we currently have up
0:29and running in our fish room
0:31as well as my education my master's
0:33degree in biotechnology and chemical
0:34science
0:35my master's certain aquaculture and fish
0:36health and the fact that i'm a college
0:38biology professor
0:40hopefully all those things will help
0:41make this process a little bit easier
0:43for you
0:43so let's get started thing number one
0:45you need a fish tank
0:47now there are lots of ways to go about
0:49this in fact we talk about some of the
0:51better sizes
0:51in the first part of this beginner
0:53series but that's the first thing you're
0:55going to need is the tank itself
0:57we also discussed in part one how
0:59important is to do your research and try
1:01to figure out what types of fish you
1:02want to purchase
1:03before you buy the tank and that's going
1:05to help you determine the size of the
1:06tank
1:07now two things that might be really
1:09helpful for you as you're deciding what
1:11type of fish tank to
1:12buy we have two playlists down in the
1:14description below there's going to be a
1:15lot of information in the description
1:17below if you want
1:18to research further and then as we've
1:20gone through and done the pros and cons
1:22of many different size
1:23tanks and we've also looked at stocking
1:25options for those size tanks you might
1:27want to check those out to help you
1:28determine
1:29what size tank you want now if you
1:30figure that out awesome
1:32you are ahead of the game what else do
1:34you need next thing you want to consider
1:36is a fish tank light
1:38it's pretty cool to have fish not so
1:40cool when you can't see them
1:41so we have in the description below a
1:43video on fish tank lighting 101 there's
1:46a couple fish tank lights that i really
1:47like for the beginner i think my
1:48favorite right now
1:50is the higher light i will put amazon
1:52affiliate links down in the description
1:54i'll try to organize them based on the
1:57equipment that we've talked about but if
1:58you want more information on some of
2:00these
2:01these pieces of equipment or you want to
2:02purchase them there will be links in the
2:04description below but the higher lights
2:06are really good for a beginner because
2:07they don't cost a lot of money
2:10and they show really great color so
2:13the light is something that you're going
2:14to need the next thing you want to
2:16consider
2:17is a heater now here's where things get
2:20a little bit tricky if you're getting a
2:21tank 10 gallons and above
2:23i really like the eheim heaters and
2:25again i'll put links down in the
2:26description below
2:28those i have found worked the best for
2:30us the inherent problem with most
2:31fish tank heaters is they tend to break
2:34these
2:35have been very reliable but a heater is
2:38definitely something you want to
2:39consider
2:39for most tropical fish applications now
2:42if you're keeping goldfish or some of
2:43the cooler water fish
2:44might not be as necessary but for the
2:46most part for most beginners a heater is
2:48going to be a really
2:49necessary thing the size of the heater
2:52that you need
2:53generally speaking you want about 3
2:55watts
2:56per gallon so as an example if you've
2:59got a 10 gallon tank you're going to
3:00want a heater that's between 30 and 50
3:02watts you go smaller than that
3:04it might be running too often any larger
3:06than that and it just takes up too much
3:08space and it's an unnecessary amount of
3:10cost
3:11the next thing is you're going to want
3:14to filter
3:15now we did a beginner's guide to
3:17filtration that i highly recommend you
3:18check out but if for the beginner
3:21my strong recommendation is the hang on
3:23back filter there's a lot of reasons for
3:24that one
3:25it's relatively easy to maintain it's
3:27easy to set up and it's relatively easy
3:30to change out the filter media and it's
3:32a low cost
3:33we have done videos on how to lower the
3:36cost of hang on back filters my personal
3:38favorite
3:39and again some of this depends on the
3:40size of the tank i really like two
3:42brands of filters the marineland pro
3:44series and the c-chem title line
3:46i will put links down in the description
3:47below for those of you want to check
3:48them out get more information read the
3:50reviews that kind of thing
3:51but those are both really good filters
3:53if you're going 10 gallons or less
3:54i also really like the aqua top the
3:57forza 5 to 15 is a really good filter
3:59for
4:00that 5 to 10 gallon tank but a hang on
4:02back filter is definitely something that
4:04you want to do
4:05if you want to learn more about how you
4:06can save money on the actual cartridges
4:08i'll put that video down in the
4:09description below you're going to want a
4:12lid for your tank and there's a couple
4:13reasons for that
4:14one fish do jump even fish you wouldn't
4:16expect to jump out of the tank sometimes
4:18you'll find them on the floor
4:19covering your tank will prevent that
4:21from happening and the second thing is
4:22it'll cut down an evaporation
4:24and keep more of the water in your tank
4:26as well the next thing you're going to
4:27want is a thermometer
4:29i do not rely on the heater inside the
4:32tank to tell me the temperature of that
4:33tank it's going to usually get you
4:35pretty close
4:36but i like to have that thermometer that
4:38separate thermometer
4:39that tells me what the tank water
4:41actually is now there's a couple
4:42different ways you can go with that one
4:44you can get the ones that stick on the
4:45side of the glass i tend not to like
4:47those because they can be hard to read
4:49and they can be inconsistent i like the
4:51ones that just are
4:52the old school ones that just kind of
4:54float in the tank maybe they got a
4:55suction cup
4:56and just stick it on there it's really
4:57cheap i will put a link down in the
4:59description below
5:00but you definitely want that and use the
5:01thermometer to tell you the temperature
5:03of the water
5:04not the heater if you're going to be
5:06purchasing a tank that's 20 gallons or
5:08larger
5:09i would highly recommend at least
5:11consider a fish tank stand
5:13if you don't have sturdy furniture even
5:16for a 5 or 10 gallon you still might
5:18want to consider a stand
5:19but certainly for the 20 or larger just
5:22keep in mind as we talked about in the
5:23first video
5:24your tank is going to weigh roughly 10
5:26pounds per gallon
5:27once you add in the rocks and the water
5:29and everything else
5:31so definitely consider stand at this
5:33point if you are a beginner most of the
5:35store-bought stands are probably going
5:37to be adequate
5:38for that size tank the next thing you're
5:41going to want is a net
5:42the size of that is going to be
5:44dependent upon the fish that you keep
5:45i always tend to go a little bit larger
5:47just in case my interest change over
5:49time
5:50and my fish get a little bit bigger i
5:51still have a net that's capable of
5:53catching them when i need to
5:54or scooping out fish when they die
5:56unfortunately but
5:58and that is definitely something you're
5:59going to want next thing you're going to
6:01need
6:01is some fish food so i would have that
6:03on hand when you're buying everything
6:05else
6:06for us we feed exclusively northfin fish
6:08foods we are sponsored by flip aquatics
6:10i'll put their link down in the
6:11description below they sell northfin
6:13foods
6:14it is a high-end food but in my opinion
6:16if you're going to spend money on fish
6:19it's best to try to keep them as healthy
6:20as you can and northvin is one of the
6:22best
6:22fish foods out on the market today
6:25really awesome ingredients
6:27something else to consider now this
6:28isn't required but i find it makes a
6:30fish tank look a lot better
6:32if you've seen some of our fish tanks in
6:34our fish room you'll notice that we have
6:35a background on almost
6:36every single one of our fish tanks i
6:39happen to paint my backgrounds but you
6:41can get
6:41store-bought backgrounds from most local
6:44fish stores
6:44and just tape them on and the reason for
6:46that is tanks tend to look a lot nicer
6:50when there is a background as opposed to
6:52seeing the wall behind the tank and
6:53maybe a hang on back filter and some
6:55cords
6:56it doesn't cost a lot of money and it
6:58can go a long way in making your fish
7:00tank look really really nice
7:02i've talked about how to paint
7:03backgrounds before i'll put that in the
7:05description below
7:06as well as some diy options in case you
7:08want to check that out and keep the cost
7:09down
7:10now we've already talked about you're
7:11gonna have a filter you're gonna have a
7:13light
7:14you're gonna have a heater minimal
7:15you're going to have those three things
7:17most
7:17wall outlets only give you the ability
7:20to plug in two things and so
7:22one of the things i often forget when
7:23we're setting up a new tank and it's
7:24very frustrating
7:26is a power strip i highly recommend buy
7:28a power strip
7:29certainly one that has its own internal
7:31breaker and try to keep that off the
7:33floor
7:34try to keep it as far away from the tank
7:36as you possibly can just so that you're
7:37not
7:38running the risk of getting water and
7:40electricity mixing near your tank
7:42all right now let's talk a little bit
7:43about the things that you're going to
7:45want to make sure your water parameters
7:47and your water is healthy for your fish
7:49the first thing
7:50is water conditioner you want to buy
7:52something that is going to remove
7:53chlorine and chloramines from your water
7:56we are sponsored by fritz aquatics it is
7:58a fantastic company
8:00they sell water conditioners that are
8:02that are very good
8:03the other thing that most people forget
8:06and i think this is
8:07possibly one of the most important
8:09things you can do if you are new
8:11and that is avoid issues with ammonia
8:15and nitrite spikes
8:16you may have heard of something called
8:18the nitrogen cycle
8:20fish produce ammonia that is a waste
8:22product that is very toxic to them if it
8:24builds up in the aquarium
8:26that ammonia gets converted to something
8:28called nitrite
8:29which is also toxic to fish and then
8:32finally that nitrite is converted
8:33nitrate we do water changes to deal with
8:35that something i'll talk about in a
8:36future video
8:37but we want to avoid that process as
8:40best we can
8:41there are products on the market that
8:43claim to be able to
8:45start your fish tank cycle or a
8:48speed it up in some way most of those
8:50products
8:51are garbage there are a few that are
8:53good one of them
8:55is from our channel sponsor fritz
8:56aquatics it's called fritz zyme7
8:58it has nitrifying bacteria so if you buy
9:01a product make sure it has
9:02live nitrifying bacteria in the product
9:05anything else probably isn't going to
9:06work
9:07so you add that just based on the
9:09directions on the bottle based on the
9:10fish tank that you purchase
9:12you can actually add a couple fish at
9:13that time i wouldn't add more than one
9:15or two in your tank
9:16and that live nitrifying bacteria is
9:18going to make sure that that toxic
9:20ammonia and nitrite get converted to
9:22nitrate and that avoids
9:24a lot of problems and 95 percent of the
9:26problems i see for new fish keepers
9:28are water quality issues related to
9:30ammonia and nitrite not having a tank
9:32fully cycled
9:34that will certainly help in that process
9:37now other things you're going to want
9:38for fish tank maintenance you might want
9:40to get an algae scraper there are many
9:41different kinds
9:43there are ones that are magnetic there's
9:44ones that are kind of old school they
9:45have a little scraper and you just on a
9:47handle
9:48and you just go ahead and scrape away
9:51algae scrapers
9:52will certainly help if you're going to
9:54be using buckets
9:55to do water changes you might want to
9:57think about a five gallon bucket
9:59some type of gravel vac might be a good
10:02idea i highly recommend
10:03if you're gonna do a gravel vac make
10:05sure it's got the bulb on the
10:07part of the of the hose so you can just
10:09squeeze that bulb to get the water
10:10started makes life a lot easier
10:12if you're getting a larger tank like
10:14let's say above 29 gallons
10:16sometimes the python systems the water
10:18changing systems can be helpful that
10:20hook right up into the sink
10:21they can take the water out and drain it
10:23right into the sink and then you can
10:24just refill right from there it's
10:26it's a lot easier than carrying buckets
10:29but
10:29definitely a gravel vac and some way to
10:32empty the water out in a bucket in your
10:33from your new tank
10:34is going to be a really good thing to do
10:37now as you might have already guessed
10:39water parameters are super important and
10:41therefore it would be a great idea
10:43especially for newer fish keepers to be
10:45able to test your water parameters i
10:46know this all
10:47sounds a little bit overwhelming but
10:49trust me as you get into it it's not as
10:51bad as it seems
10:52there are test strips that you can use
10:54and i'll put the links down in the
10:56description below where all you do is
10:57you dip the test strip in the water pull
11:00it out
11:00you match up the colors to a chart and
11:02you can see ammonia and nitrite and
11:04nitrate and hardness water hardness and
11:06ph
11:07and then you can match it up to the
11:08chart and just make sure that it's in
11:09line for the fish that you want to keep
11:11because
11:11you've already done the research and you
11:13know what those parameters are supposed
11:14to be
11:15all right i've saved the best for last
11:17the most fun for last and that is
11:20decorating the tank there's a few things
11:22you're going to want to consider
11:23one is the substrate so are you going to
11:25do gravel are you going to do sand
11:27we've done videos on how to choose the
11:29proper substrate which will be in the
11:30description below we talk about our
11:32favorite sand as well that will be there
11:34i think for a beginner often what's
11:37easiest is to just add gravel
11:40the color of the gravel doesn't matter
11:41if you want to go with red white and
11:43blue or yellow and green and pink
11:45that's fine as long as the gravel is
11:47aquarium safe and fish safe
11:49go with what you like sand is a great
11:52option as well it just becomes a little
11:54bit more difficult
11:56when it comes to fish tank maintenance
11:57for the beginner but either one will
11:59work great
12:00so you're going to want your substrate
12:01then you have to think about okay how do
12:03you want to decorate it do you want to
12:04have some caves or some
12:06cool little decorations you know some
12:08houses or something like that
12:10plants a lot of beginners go with
12:13plastic plants at the beginning
12:15just because it's easier i usually
12:17recommend plastic plants
12:18at least for the first few months once
12:20you get the fish keeping side of things
12:21down
12:22if you want to go with live plants later
12:24you can do that if you want to go with
12:25live plants now that's fine
12:27certainly something you can do i've got
12:29a beginner's guide to plants which i
12:30will put down in the description below
12:32but you've got some type of
12:35cave plastic houses or something you've
12:38got your plants
12:38maybe you want to add some rocks or some
12:40driftwood we've done videos on how to
12:42prepare driftwood if you want to add
12:44that
12:44which i will put down in the description
12:46below as well and finally you've got the
12:49fish again my biggest piece of advice
12:51is when it comes to the fish start out
12:53slow have
12:54patience we mentioned that in part one
12:56the two biggest things a new fish keeper
12:58can do that be successful
13:00is do your research and have patience
13:02and when you do those two things you're
13:04going to avoid a lot of problems to
13:05start
13:06with so when you're adding fish it's
13:07just going to be one or two with the
13:09fritz i'm seven
13:10without that if you add fish you are
13:12eventually going to get an ammonia spike
13:14and that's going to be bad for your fish
13:15now here's what we're going to do
13:16in the next video part three we
13:20are going to show you how to set up a
13:22tank using all the stuff that we just
13:23outlined here if you haven't seen part
13:26one i highly recommend check that out
13:28it's in the upper right hand corner
13:30if you want more information and more
13:31videos that are well suited to the
13:33beginning
13:34fishkeeper check out this playlist in
13:35the lower right hand corner
13:37appreciate you being here and we'll see
13:38in the next one

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