How To Choose the Best Aquarium for You and Your Home
Choosing the best aquarium for your home is not easy as there are so many choices. At Cheap BiOrb Aquariums for Sale we’ve put together this guide to help you. If you are buying an aquarium for the first time, you’ll need to make all sorts of choices related to the size, shape and material used to make the tank. Is the standard small, rectangular glass aquarium the best for you, or should you go with a large acrylic hexagonal unit? Which style of aquarium will best suit you taste and needs? We hope to help answer some of the questions that will emerge as you search for the type of aquarium that will best suit your living space and the various species of fish you want to keep.
Selecting the Right Size Aquarium
While a lot of people believe it’s best to begin with a small tank, that isn’t necessary true. Small tanks are generally more sensitive to outside influences and require more overall maintenance. This is because disturbances in the outer environment have a bigger impact on smaller amounts of water; for example, unexpected alterations in room temperature will cause an abrupt change in the water temperature of your aquarium. The large-scale fish tank is far more stable in a number of respects. Another advantage of the large tank is that waste products from the fish are dispersed into a greater volume of water, which is much healthier for your fish. The minimum size aquarium for a newcomer is a 40-gallon tank.
Which is Best: Glass or Acrylic?
The next item to consider is the material used for the tank construction. Your primary choices for fish tanks are acrylic or the more traditional glass. Another aquarium choice facing you will be to pick the shape you find most appealing. Remember that certain shaped tanks, such as the cylindrical models, are made of acrylic exclusively. And while the old-fashioned glass fish tanks aren’t as expensive as the newer acrylic styles, they weigh a lot more. Also, glass aquariums are known to leak as they age; fortunately, this problem can be remedied with silicon aquarium sealant. There aren’t as many shapes of glass tanks to choose from as there are with acrylic aquariums. If it’s an exotic style of aquarium that you want, most likely you’ll have to choose an acrylic tank.
Acrylic aquariums are certainly higher priced than their glass counterparts, but they’re comparatively lightweight and they rarely leak, as they are constructed from a single piece of acrylic material. You must be careful not to damage the tank’s outer surface, and you shouldn’t clean the acrylic with harsh materials that can scratch the outside and affect its clarity.
Choosing the Right Shape of Aquarium
The rectangular aquarium we’re all familiar with is an ideal shape for a fish tank, due to its high surface area to water ratio that permits optimum air exchange. But if you’re looking for a more unusual shape, it’s important for you to make certain that the style you pick is properly aerated so that your fish will get an ample supply of oxygen. There are many decorating options that come with acrylic fish tanks, since they’re available in such a range of shapes – round, cylindrical, hexagonal, and octagonal – and can be mounted into a wall or built into coffee tables. One excellent example of an interesting aquarium that is more eye-catching than the old-fashioned rectangular tank is Amazon’s 48-gallon semi-circle aquarium; it has a light and filter, good surface area to water ratio, and is a manageable size for a beginning fish enthusiast.
Where Should You Put Your New Fish Tank?
As you decide where to put your new aquarium, you need to to be sure your final destination is big enough and is solid enough to support the weight of the tank. Keep in mind that the total weight of a 50-gallon tank filled with water is about 550 pounds. This means the floor and any furniture involved must be able to withstand this amount of bulk. If you choose a wall aquarium think about mounting it on dividing walls, which will give you the opportunity to see it from each of the adjoining rooms. A mounted aquarium can be a striking focal point in any room.
Image by Pewari Naan