Essential Aquarium Equipment

Aquariums need a set of essential equipments in order for it to become a safe and functional miniature water environment for the fish. When you are setting up an aquarium, equipment such as filtration systems may be required in order to maintain clean aquarium water suitable for maintaining a stress-free environment for the fish.

Air pumps may also be required in order to provide oxygen for the fish or provide carbon dioxide for heavily planted aquariums. Aquarium heaters may also be required to keep the ideal water temperature for your fish.

Filtration systems act to clean out the aquarium water and get rid of wastes that have dissolved in the water over time. A typical filtration system includes:
a. the intake where the "dirty" water comes in
b. mechanical filtration that seeks to filter out floating sediments in the water
c. chemical filtration that gets rid of the nitrogenous wastes and phosphates dissolved in water
d. biological filtration that tries to get rid of bacteria and other organisms that may be harmful to the fish
e. the outflow where the filtered water is led back into the tank

Filtration systems for aquariums are probably the most important as well as the most complex of all aquarium equipments. There are a variety of designs that can be used to allow for different levels of filtration. There are other additional filtration devices such as protein skimmers that remove proteins as well as other waste from the aquarium water.

The air pumps are mainly used to provide adequate oxygen into the aquarium water. Fish may suffer from oxygen starvation and may die if they aren't supplied with oxygen in the water regularly.

Aquarium fish may be prone to this condition since aquarium water is mostly stagnant and may have depleting oxygen levels in time. Air pumps can be used to bring back the oxygen levels in the aquarium back to normal levels in order to keep a more livable environment for the aquarium residents.

Aquarium heaters are often used to regulate the water temperature inside the aquarium. This is especially required for tropical aquariums that usually house a variety of exotic tropical fish that may require the environment of tropical water temperatures in order to thrive. Aquarium heaters are usually equipped with thermostats in order to efficiently regulate the right water temperature at the designated levels.

In contrast, there are also aquarium coolers available that are used in places where water temperature may be required to be lower than the prevailing room temperature in order for the aquarium fish to be comfortable.