What size glofish tank should I set up?

Hello!


    Thinking of setting up a new aquarium for your glofish can be very exciting.
If you're thinking of setting up your very own glofish tank, but you're not sure what size you would like to do, here's a few things that can help you decide!



1. How many glofish would you like to have?

2. Do you have a tank that you already own?

3. Do you have the time to maintain a smaller tank in terms of cleaning and water changes?

4. What kind of budget do you have?

5. Location of your future tank and do you have the right support in your floor for much larger aquariums.



These are a few factors to consider while thinking of setting up a glofish tank or any aquarium for that matter.

     When I set up my first glofish tank, I picked up the Glofish 10 Gallon Aquarium Kit  and started from there. But I made a few mistakes, and hopefully I can prevent you from making the same mistakes I did!

     The first mistake I did was, I added a couple fish in the aquarium before I cycled the water. What I mean by "cycling the water" is, you need to let the water grow the correct and healthy amount of bacteria. I will write a post in the very near future to explain that. This caused my fish to die over night. I called up my local fish store and they recommended that I get a couple white skirt tetras and some Tetra SafeStart  to help speed up the process. After I did this, a week later I gave them back the white skirt tetras and got my livestock of glofish! And this brought me to my second mistake, I had too many glofish in my 10 gallon tank! I had around 13 fish and several ghost shrimp. So then I had to transfer my tank to a 20 gallon long aquarium with the water that was cycled and I needed to add more water on top! I also had to go back to the store and get more gravel to plant my glofish plants. It was a mess, but I got it done.

So that would help answer the first question, how many glofish would you like to have? A good method would be 1 inch of fish per gallon.

    Secondly, if you already have an aquarium already set up, or have one laying around, great! You can turn almost any aquarium into a glofish tank.

    Third, Do you have the time to maintain a smaller tank? With a smaller tank with a few fish, the bio load will require you to do 30-50% water changes every couple weeks. This will help keep the ammonia and nitrate levels down. One trick I do to clean the gravel would be to use a turkey baster! You can suck up the waste at the bottom and squirt it into an empty bottle. It's quick and easy!

    Fourth, What kind of budget do you have? This can be a determining factor whether or not you want a much larger tank, or smaller tank as well as the much larger heater and filtration system that would be required as well as lights. Each individual glofish can be a little pricey too. You can call or visit your local pet store and see what the prices of glofish in your area are.

    And lastly, location of your aquarium. A good place to set up an aquarium would be away from the direct sunlight if you don't have live plants, this is because you will grow a lot of un-wanted algae on your glass. Another good place would be against a load bearing wall. This is important because aquariums can weigh a lot. A 20 gallon long aquarium  ( 30" x 12" x 12" ) can weigh as much as 225 lbs with the water and gravel! I will add a more descriptive aquarium size and weight in the future.  If you plan on doing a much larger tank like a 125-180 gallon aquarium, these can weigh as much as 1800-2100 lbs and you want to make sure your floor is supported enough for such weight.


I hope this post was helpful for you! I will be posting more in the very near future!


If you have a glofish tank and you would like me to share your picture and set up, please email me a picture and description at glofishtankblog@yahoo.com  and I will share it !