Main Parts of Your Fish Tank and How They Are Used

Fish tanks usually have a lot of different parts. The main part of the fish tank is made from glass and it's held together at the seams with silicone. Sometimes, the silicone will start to break down and you will need to replace the silicone from the area that is leaking. Fish tanks comes in a variety of different sizes and shapes. You will always want to purchase a stand to match the aquarium. Stands are usually made from wood and you want a stand which is durable enough to hold a lot of weight. You can purchase stands with doors, so that you place items below the fish tank such as food, chemicals, medications, etc.

You will probably hook up a filter system to your fish tank. The filter system will either go under your fish tank or it will hang on the side of your fish tank. You will fill the filter system with water and plug it in. You will need to replace the filter cartridges after about 2 weeks. The filter cartridges have carbon in them that will bond to harmful substances in your water. Sometimes you need to purchase carbon to fill the media bags. Carbon looks like little black rocks and it's normal for it too appear to be smoking when you place the carbon in water.

The filter will have an intake tube, which sucks up water. The filter is running because of the motor which connects to the impeller. The water will suck in through the intake tube and be filtered through the filter cartridges. Then the water will overflow back into the fish tank once the water is filtered. It's a very simply process.

You will have a heater as well. The heater will usually be plastic because glass heaters can shatter. You will set the heater at the temperature that you don't want the tank to go below. If you have fish which need to be between 70 and 75 degrees you will want to set the heater to come on at 71 degrees, just to be safe. Once you set the heater, you never have to touch it again. Just plug the heater in and let it go to work.

A bubbler is powered by an air pump that you purchase. If you have a bubbler with two air line tube hookups, you will need to use both of them or close one of them off completely to get enough power. You will have air line tubing which you purchase to hook up to the air pump. Then you will purchase a few different air stones to hook up to the end of the air line tubing. The air stones will produce bubbles, which provide oxygen to your fish.