How to make an aquarium - Part 5 Just add water

So through this series of posts with accompanying videos you should be able to see how I set up my aquarium from start to finish including the stand from just panes of glass, some acrylic sheet, wood and screws. In total to get this tank up and running (ignoring the CO2 system) it would easily cost less than £100.

At this point the tank is made and it's sitting on the stand. Our final considerations are the filter, which in this case is built in, and what the goals are for this tank.

The whole process of filtration and how my filter works is explained in a separate post with it's own accompanying video. What I wanted to cover here is a quick overview and a little bit more about the media I chose.

Mechanical filtration - sponges going from coarse, to medium to fine; by setting the sponges up like this debris is filtered out of the water more efficiently allowing water that is free from debris to enter the biological media. This will extend the life and improve the efficiency of the biological media as it will not become clogged.

Biological filtration - I chose BioHome media, it's unique structure, in my opinion, provides the best environment for effective breakdown of ammonia and control of nitrates by providing a suitable environment for nitrifying bacteria as well as de-nitrifying bacteria, this is covered much more detail in the video about filtration and how a filter works but if you would like a more scientific explanation then please get in touch at withdan@outlook.com and I will send you a fact sheet.

Chemical filtration - I should have run some carbon at the start of this tanks life it would have saved me some of the headaches I've been having with algae.

The filter is sorted the aquascaping is done lets just add water. Now the first problem I encountered was with the rocks I used. The last time these rocks were in an aquarium of mine they were sat by the window in full sunlight whilst I was in the process of breaking down all my aquariums. As you can imagine in a neglected tank there was a horrific amount of algae. Well seen as though I didn't boil these rocks or make any attempt to sterilise them I have the same horrific algae in this tank. I am working on removing it and I'm pretty confident I can get it under control but it's not what you want to be dealing with at the start of a new aquatic adventure.

 This will be the last post in the how to make an aquarium series but have a look at the stand alone Aquarium diary (tab at the top of the page) for updates on how this tank progresses.