Aquarium

[10] Leonhard Baldner, who wrote Vogel-, Fisch- und Tierbuch (Bird, Fish, and Animal Book) in 1666, maintained weather loaches and newts.

This experimentation lead to several discoveries, including the first direct evidence that argonauts, a marine cephalopod, create their own shells.

[14] In 1846, Anne Thynne maintained stony corals and seaweed for almost three years, and was credited as the creator of the first balanced marine aquarium in London.

The aquarium principle was fully developed by Warington, explaining that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as their numbers do not grow too large.

However, in 1856, Der See im Glase (The Lake in a Glass) was published, discussing freshwater aquaria, which were much easier to maintain in landlocked areas.

[32] Initially, amateur aquarists kept native fish (with the exception of goldfish); the availability of exotic species from overseas further increased the popularity of the aquarium.

[41] Over time, there has been an increasing appreciation of the usefulness of access to an aquarium to provide potential stress reduction and improvement of mood in people observing aquatic life.

[45] Today, most aquaria consist of glass panes bonded together by 100% silicone sealant,[46] with plastic frames attached to the upper and lower edges for decoration.

[45] Aquaria are made in a variety of shapes, such as cuboid, hexagonal, angled to fit in a corner (L-shaped), and bow-front (the front side curves outwards).

Prior to the invention of UV stabilization, early acrylic aquaria discolored over time with exposure to light; this is no longer the case.

These aquariums provide slow, circular water flow with a bare minimum of interior hardware to prevent the inhabitants from becoming injured by pumps or the tank itself.

The fish, plants, substrate, rocks, wood, coral, and any other component of the display should completely match that of the local natural environment.

An aquarium can range from a small glass bowl containing less than 1 litre (2.1 US pt) of water to immense public aquaria that house entire ecosystems such as kelp forests.

Relatively large home aquaria resist rapid fluctuations of temperature and pH, allowing for greater system stability.

Size, lighting conditions, density of floating and rooted plants, placement of bog-wood, creation of caves or overhangs, type of substrate, and other factors (including an aquarium's positioning within a room) can all affect the behavior and survival of tank inhabitants.

New aquarists should also pay close attention to their electrical setup for their aquarium, taking care to set up power connections with drip loops to prevent water from getting to outlets.

[65] Large volumes of water enable more stability in a tank by diluting effects from death or contamination events that push an aquarium away from equilibrium.

Typical weekly maintenance includes changing around 10–30% or more of the water while cleaning the gravel, or other substrate if the aquarium has one; however some manage to avoid this entirely by keeping it somewhat self-sufficient.

A good habit is to remove the water being replaced by "vacuuming" the gravel with suitable implements, as this will eliminate uneaten foods and other residues that settle on the substrate.

[69][page needed][71] A well-balanced tank contains organisms that are able to metabolize the waste products of other aquarium residents, recreating a portion of the nitrogen cycle.

Activated carbon and other substances, such as ammonia absorbing resins, stop working when their pores fill, so these components have to be replaced regularly.

The "silent" cycle is basically nothing more than densely stocking the aquarium with fast-growing aquatic plants and relying on them to consume the nitrogen, allowing the necessary bacterial populations time to develop.

According to anecdotal reports, the plants can consume nitrogenous waste so efficiently that ammonia and nitrite level spikes seen in more traditional cycling methods are greatly reduced or disappear.

This method is usually done with a small starter population of hardier fish which can survive the ammonia and nitrite spikes, whether they are intended to be permanent residents or to be traded out later for the desired occupants.

The largest bacterial populations are found in the filter, where there is high water flow and plentiful surface available for their growth, so effective and efficient filtration is vital.

Therefore, it is recommended to rinse mechanical filters in an outside bucket of aquarium water to dislodge organic materials that contribute to nitrate problems, while preserving bacteria populations.

Experienced aquarists warn against applying these rules too strictly because they do not consider other important issues such as growth rate, activity level, social behaviour, filtration capacity, total biomass of plant life, and so on.

Establishing maximum capacity is often a matter of slowly adding fish and monitoring water quality over time, following a trial and error approach.

While there are fishes and invertebrates that could be introduced in the tank to clean up this algae, the ideal solution would be to find the optimal balance between the above-mentioned factors.

Other objects found in an aquarium can also be added and rearranged on some software, like treasure chests and giant clams that open and close with air bubbles, or a bobbing diver.