Subject: Preparing Your Aquarium's Water

The fish and plant environment in an aquarium is of course the water!

All waters are not created equal, and it is up to us to determine the steps necessary to make it livable for our aquatic friends.

In most aquarium failures, it is the water that creates the problems. The water quality should be checked if the fish refuse to breed or act strangely, so FIRST CHECK THE WATER.

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Most pet stores will guarantee their fish for 72 hours, but you will need to bring in a sample of the water for testing in order to utilize the guarantee. This may not seem like a big deal until you realize it is easy to spend hundreds of dollars on fish!

It is advisable for the beginner to keep the chemistry he uses to a minimum, it can be unnecessary ballast.

However, if you wish to breed or keep especially sensitive fish, it is a good idea to become familiar with some of the basic facts of water:

* Electrical conductivity is determined by the amount of substances (gases, salts, minerals, and acids) dissolved in the water.

Water that is manufactured with softening filters has nearly zero conductivity; while almost chemically pure, this water would not sustain fish or plants for long. Mixed with most tap waters, it can become suitable for the majority of tropical fish.

* Most tropical fish come from tropical regions with little or no minerals in the water; this causes them to be adaptable in limited ranges to other waters.

* In order to raise or breed these fish, the water must be made suitable; this is most usually accomplished with chemicals.

*Water temperature also has an effect on water conductivity to a certain extent.

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Electrical conductivity meters are available, but are very expensive, and are not really appropriate for the normal living room aquarium.

An aquarist who wishes to breed problem fish will not be able to succeed without his meter.

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Thank you,

Bill Anderson
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