Cwazy Clown
Koi
read my compare and contrast essay.
Battle of the Fishes
The hobby of aquariums is a very fun and rewarding hobby. I have been in this hobby for over five years and I have loved every second of it. I have been in freshwater aquariums for five years and saltwater aquariums for a little under a year now. These two setups are the main types that people go for. Each one has its different requirements and expertise. Basically, saltwater and freshwater aquariums differ in the way you maintain them, set them up, and what kind of things you stock them with. Of course there are many other factors but these are the bigger sections. Maintenance is a big part of each setup, but they differ vastly.
Maintenance is a big part of anything and is necessary to keep anything up and running. First off, saltwater aquariums are much harder to maintain. The daily tasks are topping off the water, checking for any fallen objects, and feeding the fish or any other livestock that needs feeding. This is necessary because one, if the water level changes, the salinity changes with it due to the concentration of salt to water will be higher. The more unstable the levels are, the more stressed everything in the tank is. In addition to that, everyday you will want to check for any fallen corals and such. When a coral piece falls or falls on another coral, they will either create a death spot on the part in which they have fallen or if they fall on each other, they will sting each other and one will die. And of course feeding is necessary for livestock like fish and inverts. Not only are there daily tasks but there are also weekly or biweekly tasks as well. The most important of those are water changes. We normally, change around 10%-20% per week or two weeks. With water changes for saltwater, one must buy RO/DI water and heat the water to 80 degrees F and put in a certain amount of special sea salt. Then the water must be kept at that temperature, circulated, and aerated for a period of 24 hours. Only once that is done, the water can be put in the tank. In addition to that, each week, the protein skimmer (description in the equip section) collection cup must be emptied or else it will overflow and it would be pointless to run one. And finally, each week, the glass must be scrubbed using a magnetic cleaner so that algae that has grown will be scrubbed away and the glass will be clear for viewing. There are also things that need to be cared for in monthly or yearly time bases like changing a light bulb and fragging corals. As for freshwater setups, there is mush less maintaining done. There are daily tasks just like saltwater, first off, feeding the fish is a very important task. In addition, one much also check for any problems with fish or equipment. For weekly or biweekly tasks, there is also the water change. For freshwater, it is 10% change per one to two weeks. In freshwater tanks, water can come straight out of the tap. Then water conditioner must be added to get rid of chlorine and heavy metals, and finally, the water must be heated or set to room temp depending on the temp of the tank water. Also, every week or so, the gravel must be vacuumed to get rid of the detritus that has settled on the bottom. Finally, each month, the filter pad in the filter must be either back flushed or replaced. If this is not done, the bioload will cause stress on the livestock. As said, saltwater and freshwater setups differ much in maintenance but even more in the equipment needed.
The main thing that deters people from a certain hobby is the amount of effort and money that goes into the setup of equipment. But once the setup is up and running, it is all worth it. A saltwater aquarium is very complicated; there are many pieces of equipment that one needs to buy. First off, a tank is needed; there are three types of tanks. First there is the pico, which is less than 10 gallons, then there are nano tanks which are 10 gallons to 24 gallons, and finally there are full blown reef tanks which are 30+ gallons. After choosing the tank, comes the choice of having corals or not because if the answer is yes, a light will be needed. There are three main types of lighting available to the public: halide, t5 fluorescent tube, and PC fluorescent tubes. The halides are most desirable, they produce the most sun like light, and it even has that shimmer of water movement on the rocks and objects. The t5 tubes are close to the par of halides but produce a mat light that isn’t very vibrant. Then there is PC lighting, it is a lower power version of t5 but they come in smaller sizes so it would fit on pico or nano aquariums. After getting a light if one chooses to, the lifeline of all livestock comes next. This is the protein skimmer, this is a device that uses a pump to draw water and ejects with lots of micro bubbles. The micro bubbles then attach themselves to the organics in the saltwater and float them to the top and spurt over the top of a collection cup. Without a skimmer, the water must be changed at least twice a week! This is why most people decide to invest in a skimmer rather than changing the water constantly. Then there are all the miscellaneous little parts: heater, power heads, light timers, and etc. For the freshwater setup, a tank is also needed. There is no classification it’s all based on which fish you want and what size tank they need. In addition to the tank, there is the filter, freshwater filters just use filter floss and carbon to filter out al the free floating non-desirable items. Finally, there is one last piece of equipment and that is the heater. Some fish don’t need one but it all depends on what kind of freshwater setup you are running. Maintenance and the setup is the boring part, stocking the setup is fun.
The livestock is always interesting, so many things to choose, this and that, which one should I pick? This is a tricky question especially towards the saltwater hobbyist. First of all, everyone needs some rock, whether it is plastic, base, or livestock from the sea, every tank needs some. The rock should be about half to one pound per gallon of water. Once the rock is settled in, and then comes the sand. You could go without but that is totally up to you. You can choose to buy dead sand and cure it with live sand on top, or just buy live sand that has been in some one’s tank for a long time. The real livestock comes next; there is a huge selection of fish, inverts, and coral out there to the public. The fish all depends on what size tank you have. Some fish require huge tanks while some only need one to five gallons. The inverts go with that rule as well but most things don’t outgrow a ten gallon tank. Finally, there are the corals, so many types out there: softies, LPS, and SPS. Let’s start with softies, they have no skeleton and they require the least amount of light but they don’t look as fabulous. They need about 2-4 watts of PC lighting per gallon to survive and multiply. Then comes the LPS, this stands for large polyp stony (polyps are little flowers that come out of the coral, for LPS, the polyp are usually a large part of the coral), this section needs more light, 5-8 watts of PC per gallon or 2-4 watts of t5 per gallon, halides are not even needed to sustain them. This type of coral is very diverse. There are many colors and most people tend to swing towards this coral. The LPS section is a type of coral that can withstand some level of carelessness so they won’t just die when you forget something. Finally there is the SPS section, this stands for small polyp stony corals. The polyps are about ½ cm wide and they are largely based on skeletal growth. This species does very well under halide lighting and sometimes t5 supplements. These guys are the most difficult to keep because they are not forgiving at all. If something swings at all, they will stress and lose color. There is a section beyond the basic saltwater hobbyist, the giant clam section. There are five main species of giant clams, T. derasa, T. maxima, T. crocea, T. gigas, and T. saquomosia. All of which are even more picky than the SPS corals. In the wild, T. derasas grow until they are about four feet long and weigh 500 pounds. In the home aquarium they reach about two feet long due to the calcium not being enough and not enough space. The rest of the species reach a total length of about one to one and a half feet. For freshwater, there are two types of livestock that one can purchase: fish and inverts. The fish largely depend on how big the tank is and the inverts are just there to play around with. There are couple types of fish: goldfish, community, and aggressive. First, goldfish need a lot of water volume, one inch of fish to three gallons of water to take care of them properly. These fish can be kept outside in a pond or in the home aquarium but keep a note that they get quite big. Next there is the community fish, most of these fish like to school together and it is best to buy two or more when setting up this kind of tank. These fish stay relatively small so you can pack more into a smaller volume of water. And finally, there is the aggressive fish. These guys will eat anything that isn’t they; they are mean and come to you when you are beside the tank. These guys get large, twelve inches and up when fully grown and sometimes will eat feeder goldfish when they can swallow it. All three types of fish can not be mixed or else they will fight, eat each other or just overload the filter with bio mass. Choices are filled with the one that has the setup, whether they go freshwater or saltwater, the choices are endless.
As you can see, saltwater and freshwater setups vary much but they also have some similarities. One might wonder why this is relevant to them, well let’s just say, knowing all the facts before jumping into something is truly priceless. Plus, if you ever want to get into aquariums, here’s a short summary to persuade you to. In conclusion, as you can see, saltwater and freshwater aquariums require deferent levels of maintenance, setup and livestock.
ok so yea, hope i get proficient and get an A. ...
so please dont correct anything..it'll make me feel bad. so thanks! just laugh..lol
Battle of the Fishes
The hobby of aquariums is a very fun and rewarding hobby. I have been in this hobby for over five years and I have loved every second of it. I have been in freshwater aquariums for five years and saltwater aquariums for a little under a year now. These two setups are the main types that people go for. Each one has its different requirements and expertise. Basically, saltwater and freshwater aquariums differ in the way you maintain them, set them up, and what kind of things you stock them with. Of course there are many other factors but these are the bigger sections. Maintenance is a big part of each setup, but they differ vastly.
Maintenance is a big part of anything and is necessary to keep anything up and running. First off, saltwater aquariums are much harder to maintain. The daily tasks are topping off the water, checking for any fallen objects, and feeding the fish or any other livestock that needs feeding. This is necessary because one, if the water level changes, the salinity changes with it due to the concentration of salt to water will be higher. The more unstable the levels are, the more stressed everything in the tank is. In addition to that, everyday you will want to check for any fallen corals and such. When a coral piece falls or falls on another coral, they will either create a death spot on the part in which they have fallen or if they fall on each other, they will sting each other and one will die. And of course feeding is necessary for livestock like fish and inverts. Not only are there daily tasks but there are also weekly or biweekly tasks as well. The most important of those are water changes. We normally, change around 10%-20% per week or two weeks. With water changes for saltwater, one must buy RO/DI water and heat the water to 80 degrees F and put in a certain amount of special sea salt. Then the water must be kept at that temperature, circulated, and aerated for a period of 24 hours. Only once that is done, the water can be put in the tank. In addition to that, each week, the protein skimmer (description in the equip section) collection cup must be emptied or else it will overflow and it would be pointless to run one. And finally, each week, the glass must be scrubbed using a magnetic cleaner so that algae that has grown will be scrubbed away and the glass will be clear for viewing. There are also things that need to be cared for in monthly or yearly time bases like changing a light bulb and fragging corals. As for freshwater setups, there is mush less maintaining done. There are daily tasks just like saltwater, first off, feeding the fish is a very important task. In addition, one much also check for any problems with fish or equipment. For weekly or biweekly tasks, there is also the water change. For freshwater, it is 10% change per one to two weeks. In freshwater tanks, water can come straight out of the tap. Then water conditioner must be added to get rid of chlorine and heavy metals, and finally, the water must be heated or set to room temp depending on the temp of the tank water. Also, every week or so, the gravel must be vacuumed to get rid of the detritus that has settled on the bottom. Finally, each month, the filter pad in the filter must be either back flushed or replaced. If this is not done, the bioload will cause stress on the livestock. As said, saltwater and freshwater setups differ much in maintenance but even more in the equipment needed.
The main thing that deters people from a certain hobby is the amount of effort and money that goes into the setup of equipment. But once the setup is up and running, it is all worth it. A saltwater aquarium is very complicated; there are many pieces of equipment that one needs to buy. First off, a tank is needed; there are three types of tanks. First there is the pico, which is less than 10 gallons, then there are nano tanks which are 10 gallons to 24 gallons, and finally there are full blown reef tanks which are 30+ gallons. After choosing the tank, comes the choice of having corals or not because if the answer is yes, a light will be needed. There are three main types of lighting available to the public: halide, t5 fluorescent tube, and PC fluorescent tubes. The halides are most desirable, they produce the most sun like light, and it even has that shimmer of water movement on the rocks and objects. The t5 tubes are close to the par of halides but produce a mat light that isn’t very vibrant. Then there is PC lighting, it is a lower power version of t5 but they come in smaller sizes so it would fit on pico or nano aquariums. After getting a light if one chooses to, the lifeline of all livestock comes next. This is the protein skimmer, this is a device that uses a pump to draw water and ejects with lots of micro bubbles. The micro bubbles then attach themselves to the organics in the saltwater and float them to the top and spurt over the top of a collection cup. Without a skimmer, the water must be changed at least twice a week! This is why most people decide to invest in a skimmer rather than changing the water constantly. Then there are all the miscellaneous little parts: heater, power heads, light timers, and etc. For the freshwater setup, a tank is also needed. There is no classification it’s all based on which fish you want and what size tank they need. In addition to the tank, there is the filter, freshwater filters just use filter floss and carbon to filter out al the free floating non-desirable items. Finally, there is one last piece of equipment and that is the heater. Some fish don’t need one but it all depends on what kind of freshwater setup you are running. Maintenance and the setup is the boring part, stocking the setup is fun.
The livestock is always interesting, so many things to choose, this and that, which one should I pick? This is a tricky question especially towards the saltwater hobbyist. First of all, everyone needs some rock, whether it is plastic, base, or livestock from the sea, every tank needs some. The rock should be about half to one pound per gallon of water. Once the rock is settled in, and then comes the sand. You could go without but that is totally up to you. You can choose to buy dead sand and cure it with live sand on top, or just buy live sand that has been in some one’s tank for a long time. The real livestock comes next; there is a huge selection of fish, inverts, and coral out there to the public. The fish all depends on what size tank you have. Some fish require huge tanks while some only need one to five gallons. The inverts go with that rule as well but most things don’t outgrow a ten gallon tank. Finally, there are the corals, so many types out there: softies, LPS, and SPS. Let’s start with softies, they have no skeleton and they require the least amount of light but they don’t look as fabulous. They need about 2-4 watts of PC lighting per gallon to survive and multiply. Then comes the LPS, this stands for large polyp stony (polyps are little flowers that come out of the coral, for LPS, the polyp are usually a large part of the coral), this section needs more light, 5-8 watts of PC per gallon or 2-4 watts of t5 per gallon, halides are not even needed to sustain them. This type of coral is very diverse. There are many colors and most people tend to swing towards this coral. The LPS section is a type of coral that can withstand some level of carelessness so they won’t just die when you forget something. Finally there is the SPS section, this stands for small polyp stony corals. The polyps are about ½ cm wide and they are largely based on skeletal growth. This species does very well under halide lighting and sometimes t5 supplements. These guys are the most difficult to keep because they are not forgiving at all. If something swings at all, they will stress and lose color. There is a section beyond the basic saltwater hobbyist, the giant clam section. There are five main species of giant clams, T. derasa, T. maxima, T. crocea, T. gigas, and T. saquomosia. All of which are even more picky than the SPS corals. In the wild, T. derasas grow until they are about four feet long and weigh 500 pounds. In the home aquarium they reach about two feet long due to the calcium not being enough and not enough space. The rest of the species reach a total length of about one to one and a half feet. For freshwater, there are two types of livestock that one can purchase: fish and inverts. The fish largely depend on how big the tank is and the inverts are just there to play around with. There are couple types of fish: goldfish, community, and aggressive. First, goldfish need a lot of water volume, one inch of fish to three gallons of water to take care of them properly. These fish can be kept outside in a pond or in the home aquarium but keep a note that they get quite big. Next there is the community fish, most of these fish like to school together and it is best to buy two or more when setting up this kind of tank. These fish stay relatively small so you can pack more into a smaller volume of water. And finally, there is the aggressive fish. These guys will eat anything that isn’t they; they are mean and come to you when you are beside the tank. These guys get large, twelve inches and up when fully grown and sometimes will eat feeder goldfish when they can swallow it. All three types of fish can not be mixed or else they will fight, eat each other or just overload the filter with bio mass. Choices are filled with the one that has the setup, whether they go freshwater or saltwater, the choices are endless.
As you can see, saltwater and freshwater setups vary much but they also have some similarities. One might wonder why this is relevant to them, well let’s just say, knowing all the facts before jumping into something is truly priceless. Plus, if you ever want to get into aquariums, here’s a short summary to persuade you to. In conclusion, as you can see, saltwater and freshwater aquariums require deferent levels of maintenance, setup and livestock.
ok so yea, hope i get proficient and get an A. ...
so please dont correct anything..it'll make me feel bad. so thanks! just laugh..lol
