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Chapter 3 Setting Up Your Aquarium
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You’ll need to establish proper water parameters before you can add any fish. This is a Slenderspine Grouper.
These water parameters need to be established before fish can be added to the tank. Water circulation, temperature regulation, and filtration help your water to mature, but it can take as long as four to five weeks to establish bacterial colonies big enough to drive the nitrogen cycle. After your aquarium is set up and the components are turned on, water maturation begins. When you introduce fish depends on how fast ammonia and nitrite levels peak and then drop. There are a couple of proven methods for accelerating this process so that fish can be introduced within a few weeks. The fastest maturation of only a week or two occurs when you have well cured live rock in your aquarium. Another very effective method involves incorporating gravel from an established aquarium into your substrate. After your aquarium is set up and filled with water, go to your local aquarium store and ask for a handful of gravel from one of their systems that has been well established. Of course, make sure the store has healthy fish and well-maintained aquariums. Sprinkle their gravel on top of your gravel. This will accelerate water conditioning by “seeding” the new aquarium with bacteria.