Aquariums Good for the Soul

 Aquariums Are Good For Your Body and Soul

Aquarium keeping is a one of the most popular hobbies around the world, and with good reason. This exciting hobby has a number of benefits tagged with it and goes way beyond just the beauty and aesthetic appeal.

Doctors have long branded aquariums as therapeutic.

They suggest that aquariums should be placed in the busiest room of the house where all can enjoy them. The excitement of designing your own aquarium flares imagination and helps in getting over depression. The colors and buoyancy of life in an aquarium adds spice and zest to life. Even Feng Shui teachers advocate having an aquarium in home and office interiors because it brings in water, one of the five elements of earth and creates tranquility and harmony by generating positive energy.

Keeping an aquarium in an office or cubicle helps people do more creative work and produces an environment that relieves everyday pressures. Aquariums provide many benefits. For example- having an aquarium in an office provides relaxation, education and all-round business benefits. Having an aquarium in your reception area or lobby makes the clients feel “”at ease”” and impressed. However, if you place an aquarium in your personal office it instantly provides a great backdrop for conducting business, relieving work pressure and adding to the corporate image. Aquariums are known to enhance worker’s morale, and efficiency in the work place.

An aquarium adds to the aesthetic appeal of a hotel or Doctor’s Clinic lobby. The gentile movement of fish attracts the attention of visitors instantly. In children’s hospitals they captivate the children’s fantasy and help them heal faster. The waiting rooms and the lobbies become more inviting, welcoming and attractive.

A good aquarium works great for lowering blood pressure. Since, it has life in it; it will definitely gain more attention than any plasma TV or expensive art in your living room. After all, an aquarium is natural living art that brings alive a piece of the coral reef or any other live aquatic environment in your home.
Due to their wondrous effects on our lives you can spot an aquarium anywhere in Professional offices, Private residences, Retirement homes, Doctor’s waiting rooms, Restaurants, Reception areas and Lobby’s. Everyone remembers where they have seen an aquarium.

Aquariums automatically add a dynamic and vibrant look and feel to a room. They make the room look alive and help with relaxation and stress management. So whether it is an office, waiting area, pub or any other environment, you will find this addition to your surroundings very stimulating and beneficial. It can be that corner of your home which you consider a space that is your own peaceful corner of the world. You can choose a 20-gallon tank filled with fish and some aquatic plants to gaze at while you soak in a warm bubble bath, a perfect reason to make the bathroom your place to escape.

Having an aquarium at a doctor’s clinic or in a hospital is a very good idea for many reasons:

1. It helps create a peaceful atmosphere so that the patients are less anxious and stay occupied while waiting for their appointment.
2. Ailing patients are better able to relax, focus and finish meals. They feel calmer and perform their routine tasks in a better way after viewing an aquarium.
3. Aquariums help the patients heal faster since they relieve stress, especially in a traumatic or postoperative case.
4. Expecting mothers feel more relaxed and relieved from hormonal depression. Their blood pressure also remains under control.
5. Cardiologists have been recommending heart patients to have aquariums in their office as well as home because they are associated with health benefits like lowered blood pressure, reduced stress, and controlled pulse rate. Fish and aquatic animals are very good pets for mentally challenged children. In many cases it has been found that it accelerates their learning process and makes them feel more at ease.

Next it has a calm and soothing effect. Nowadays most of the people are moving away from simple functional, practical homes to the ones that assist in enhancing the quality of life. Incorporating an aquarium in the home structure and design seems natural in this case since an aquarium brings peace, harmony and relaxation into your home. It works great in de-stressing the lives of both young and old. The gentle, graceful movement of fish rinses off the tension and stress. You may consider watching your aquarium over the TV.

These days even kids are not too far from stress and overburdened lives. Placing a nice colorful aquarium in their room gives them health and academic benefits. The calming effect of aquarium fish helps in enhancing grades. This statement is supported by scientific studies that revealed that students who own fish, score higher on both math and verbal SATs, with a combined score of 200 points over their counterparts who do not have pets. High school students who keep fish have an average GPA of 3.5, versus non-pet owners at 3.2.
Aquariums are a great way to understand the complex and delicate ecology of aquatic realm of the biosphere. Thus, they are educational for both children and adults. Those placed in classrooms not only help in reducing anxiety but also act as learning aids. Caring for fish teaches children responsibility, educates them about proper pet care and improves schoolwork in areas including math, science and creative writing.

Researches also show that aquariums help people achieve healthy mind, body and soul because they help fill the leisure deficit. You can dive into the world of fish and aquarium to find rest, relaxation, tranquility and harmony that will reduce your stress and increase your health. You can watch the fish swim in the tank and forget about your worries. Aquariums are a very good way to relieve stress and hypertension.

A research, that was a combined effort of a trio of an urban ecologist, a psychiatrist, and a biologist, reveals that petting a dog or cat lowered stress and an interaction with other animals also produces similar results. During their study the volunteers were asked to read proven stress inducers. They were allowed a period of rest and then made to watch an aquarium. However, some of the subjects were first asked to watch the aquarium and then rest and later read. Their blood pressures were recorded. It was observed that those who had fish in their room had reduction in their blood pressure.

The researchers also say that the key factor in aquariums being able to relieve stress is the fish. It is not just because of bubbles, ornaments, dancing plants and vibrantly colored gravel, it is the liveliness and graceful movements of fish. Fish make people happier and healthier.  Now an even higher number of offices, classrooms and homes are being equipped with aquariums to take away your anxiety, and it leads into a more creative and learning environment. Interacting with animals reduces blood pressure. Pets can help you to be away from the milling crowds by yourself without being lonely. Thus, fish is increasingly crossing over the gourmet menu to the favorite pets list.

In many Asian communities fish are believed to bring good luck and fortune. Thus, aquariums make for very good gifts both for children and grown ups. You can give a gift aquarium to a friend or relative to add some extra aesthetic appeal to their lobby, waiting room, office, home, or backyard garden. It is a great gift for children who wish to have pets but cannot keep a dog or a cat. They will love fish as much as any other pet. Moreover, it will be a great learning experience for them. Aquariums also make a good gift for elderly people. It can help them get over their solitude.

If you have always wanted to have a pet but shortage of space kept you away from it, then having an aquarium is a great choice for you. If you live in apartment, dorm or in any type of housing where having dogs and cats as pets is not feasible, aquariums can really be a blessing and a good option for a pet. It is a great way to get over the monotony of routine life.

Aquariums give something that cannot be purchased by money and that is tranquility. Contact Dallas Aquarium Experts today to find the perfect aquarium for your home or office.

Dallas Aquarium Experts is the best choice for an aquarium maintenance service provider in DFW!  Call us today for a free consultation (469 )450-3900, we look forward to joining you on your fishkeeping journey!

Nano Reef Tanks

Setting Up A Nano Reef Aquarium

Setting up your own nano reef can be quite simple and is almost the same as a traditionally sized reef. This article will go over the basics of setting up a nano reef, as well as the equipment that is necessary.

To start, you will need to pick out the aquarium you would like to use. Three good starter sizes are the standard 15 gallon, 20 gallon, or 29 gallon aquariums. Next, you will need to decide on the lighting system you want to use. Powercompact retrofit kits and canopies are highly recommended. These powercompact lamps will provide your nano reef with plenty of light for many types of corals. For the heater, I highly recommend using a 50w or 75w Ebo Jager brand heater, as users of these have consistently had success in such small aquariums. Lastly, you will need a small powerhead pump for circulation. 

For your filtration it’s recommended to use an all natural method. Good quality live rock and live sand are the key to a successful system. You will want to use at least one pound of live rock per gallon, and about one-half pounds of live sand per gallon.  Which we will talk more about soon.

When you look for a location to place your nano reef, you will want to keep a few things in mind. The tank should be placed on a level and sturdy surface that can support approximately 70-250 pounds depending on the size of the tank. You will also want to place it in a high traffic area where it will be seen often, so you do not forget to feed it or do maintenance work when necessary.  It is also important to keep the aquarium away from windows where it would receive direct sunlight.

When the time comes to fill the tank and get it running, you will need to have purchased a good synthetic reef salt and a specific gravity meter.  Swing arm hydrometers are typically inaccurate and should be calibrated with a refractometer. A more expensive refractometer is recommended for highly accurate readings which are essential in nano reef tanks. Fill the tank with water and add salt until the specific gravity is 1.023. Place the powerhead in immediately so it will help mix the salt. Now is also the time to place in your heater and get the water temperature to 78 degrees. Once your s.g. has reached its proper level, you can add the live rock and live sand. Place the live rock in first, using an open pattern so the fish have room to swim through and hide in the rock. Be as creative as you want during this process and don’t be afraid to go back and change it later. Once the rock is where you like it, you can pour the live sand around the rocks, keeping it at a fairly even thickness throughout the tank.

If you have the desire for a nano reef aquarium, and you are not an experienced hobbyist, you should consider using an aquarium maintenance service, like Dallas Aquarium Experts.  This will help ensure a proper set-up and a strong foundation to begin working with. 

Natural Filtration

The methods used to maintain a nano reef can vary greatly throughout the hobby. The methods described below are methods used at Dallas Aquarium Experts have found to work best in maintaining a successful nano reef. Simplicity is the key in nano reef keeping; inexpensive and easy to follow. This is of course by no means the only way to keep a nano reef.

The natural method of filtration consists of only liverock and livesand. No protein skimmers are used and no additives are dosed. The nutrient export is provided by frequent partial water changes of 10-15% about every week. Trace elements are replenished through water changes.

As you go about purchasing all of the supplies for your new nano reef, you’re going to have to make a decision on which salt mix you should use. Because no additional dosing is usually done with this method, you will want to be using a good reef salt mix. Not all reef salts are created equal however. Unfortunately there is no set data that clearly shows which salt is better over another, which makes the decision even more difficult. At Dallas Aquarium Experts we have had great success with nano reef aquarium maintenance, and believe our choice for salt mix is one of the most important components to a successful nano reef tank.

When starting out your nano reef, your first livestock purchase will be liverock and livesand. You will want to purchase the highest quality live rock as you can possible afford. It will be the entire basis of your filtration so there should be no skimping. Only a small quantity of liverock is needed, so cost shouldn’t be so much of an issue.  Placement of your liverock can be nearly anything you like, just keep in mind that the more open it is the better.

In this type of system livesand is also important. The depth of sand can vary to anything you like. Sand beds from 1″ to 3″; won’t produce much of a difference in this system, but there are benefits to both. If the bed is deeper is tends to be a more efficient filter. If you choose to have a deep sand bed, make sure you have plenty of detrivores to keep the sand stirred.

With this natural method, no protein skimmers or dosing is used. Studies of skimmers have shown that they remove various trace elements, along with pods and plankton. When people run protein skimmers, they dose trace elements to replenish them after their corals and skimmers use them. Because the skimmer removes most of the elements, such as iodine, it is dosed back in causing almost an endless cycle. The main problem this holds in nano reefing is that many of the trace elements cannot be easily tested for, so no one ever knows where their level is. This can lead to overdosing which will crash a nano reef in a matter of hours. The skimmer also begins to starve your corals by removing their food source. It’s simply too risky.

Protein skimmers are beneficial however, because they remove excess nutrients from the water, but this advantage is out weighed by the disadvantages. To remove the excess nutrients from this system you do a partial water change. The water change also doubles to replenish your trace elements, which are in your synthetic sea salt. Nitrates are removed, dissolved organic compounds are removed, and your trace elements are replaced. Your nitrates will always be at or near zero, and the elements will stay at a consistent level. 

The last key factor to this system is having good flow. Use a powerhead or two to give you a flow rate of about 7-10 times the tank’s total water volume.

I encourage everyone to try this method for their nano reef. It is uncommon to not use a protein skimmer, but nano reef keeping isn’t the same as a traditional sized reef (though this method also works great on larger tanks). It’s simple, it’s cheap, and there is no extra equipment to worry about. As I always say, the less ‘toys’ you have on your reef, the less there is to go wrong.

Nano Reef Aquarium Maintenance

Nano Reef Aquarium Maintenance  is a very important task.   The most important part of maintaining your nano reef is doing partial water changes. Water changes must be done religiously! You can do your partial water changes every week to every other week, depending on the bio load in your tank. If you decide to do them weekly, change out 10% of the tanks volume with freshly mixed saltwater. If you do them bi-weekly, then you will need to do a 15-20% water change.  Dallas Aquarium Experts highly  recommends doing weekly water changes.  Also, make sure that the water is the same temperature and salinity as the water already in the aquarium.

Next to water changes, evaporation top off is also very important. You may have to do this daily depending on the size and shape of your aquarium. Evaporation top off is simply adding freshwater to your aquarium to make up for the water that evaporates throughout the day. Remember to never use saltwater to top off evaporation, because the salt is left behind during evaporation and your specific gravity will rise.

You will also want to be wiping off your nano reef with freshwater to keep it clean of saltcreep. Saltcreep comes from the salt left over from the evaporated water. You will notice it collecting on the top of you tank and on the lights. Be sure to never use a chemical cleaner! If any of it were to get into the aquarium, it could kill everything.

If you have algae growing on the sides of your nano reef, you will need to clean that off as well. If you have a glass aquarium, you can use a straight edge razor and scrape it clean, or if you have an acrylic aquarium, you can use an appropriate acrylic-safe scraper. If you use the razor, be sure to rinse it off after you use it, because the saltwater will corrode the metal.

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Reverse Osmosis… It’s all about the Water!

In the pursuit of providing the best water quality for your aquarium, you may find that the water coming out of your tap just does not have the correct parameters for your aquarium’s inhabitants. The plain tap water can even include toxic chemicals. One simple solution to this problem is to use a Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) unit to purify and soften the water.

How does Reverse Osmosis work?

Using the simple principle of applying a pressure gradient to a semi-permeable membrane, you can eliminate most of the chemicals found in the tap water and produce pure water. The semi-permeable R.O. membrane only allows very small molecules (such as H2O) to pass through it, effectively removing 90-99% of most water impurities including pesticides, arsenic and heavy metals.

Freshwater Aquariums
For freshwater applications, using an R.O. unit will provide water without General Hardness (GH) or Carbonate Hardness (KH). This allows addition of trace elements and electrolytes to match the natural water conditions of the fish we keep. The removal of the KH allows use of buffers to easily set the water’s pH wherever you wish. This is great for plants and soft water-loving fish like Discus and Angels.

Marine Aquariums
For marine applications, an R.O. unit removes most of the “unknowns” that might cause problems. But, unfortunately, the standard R.O. membrane does not remove nuisance chemicals like phosphate, nitrate, or silicates. These chemicals are undesirable because they contribute to algae growth, which is enough of a problem without adding nutrients to help it along. The Hi-S membrane, which is less permeable than standard R.O. membranes, removes up to 99% of silicates. An R.O. unit with a final stage deionization (D.I.) cartridge, removes any phosphates that pass through the R.O. unit. The combination R.O./D.I. gives you the pure water that is best for the fish and plants in your tank.

It is extremely important to condition the R.O. water for the specific aquatic inhabitants in your aquarium when doing regularly scheduled water changes or setting up a new aquarium.

At Dallas Aquarium Experts we always use Reverse Osmosis water on every aquarium we service and maintain.  In addition, to using R.O. water we know exactly how to properly condition the water for your aquariums specific needs and help your aquarium inhabitants thrive!  Contact Dallas Aquarium Experts today for a free consultation, the first step in beginning professional aquarium maintenance.

Dallas Aquarium Experts

(469) 450 3900

sales@dallasaquariumexperts.com

A DFW Aquarium Maintenance Service Company, Dallas Aquarium Experts offers the following services: Dallas Aquarium Maintenance, Dallas Freshwater Aquarium Maintenance, Dallas Saltwater Aquarium Maintenance, Dallas Reef Aquarium Maintenance, Dallas Fish Tank Cleaning, Dallas Aquarium Cleaning, Dallas Freshwater Aquarium Cleaning, Dallas Saltwater Aquarium Cleaning, Dallas Reef Aquarium Cleaning, Dallas Aquarium Cleaning Service, Dallas Custom Aquarium Design, Dallas Custom Freshwater Aquarium Design, Dallas Custom Saltwater Aquarium Design, Dallas Custom Reef Aquarium Design, Dallas Custom Aquarium Installation, Dallas Aquarium Set-up, Dallas Freshwater aquarium set up, Dallas Saltwater Aquarium set-up, Dallas Reef Aquarium set-up, Dallas Aquarium Leasing, Dallas Aquarium Sales, Dallas Aquarium relocation, Dallas Aquarium Movers

Benefits of Live Rock Systems

Why should a hobbyist use Live Rock in a  salt water aquarium set-up whenever possible?

1. Greater biological stability

2. Better survivability of fishes and invertebrates

3. Lower Aquarium Maintenance

4. More attractive Aquascaping which will enhance natural fish coloration and behaviors

5. Avoids use of bleached or dyed coral skeletons.  Which become algae magnets.

 Dallas Aquarium Experts is the best choice for aquarium maintenance service provider!  Call us today for a free consultation 469 450 3900

A DFW Aquarium Maintenance Service Company, Dallas Aquarium Experts offers the following services: DFW Aquarium Maintenance, DFW Freshwater Aquarium Maintenance, DFW Saltwater Aquarium Maintenance, DFW Reef Aquarium Maintenance, DFW Fish Tank Cleaning, DFW Aquarium Cleaning, DFW Freshwater Aquarium Cleaning, DFW Saltwater Aquarium Cleaning, DFW Reef Aquarium Cleaning, DFW Aquarium Cleaning Service, DFW Custom Aquarium Design, DFW Custom Freshwater Aquarium Design, DFW Custom Saltwater Aquarium Design, DFW Custom Reef Aquarium Design, DFW Custom Aquarium Installation, DFW Aquarium Set-up, DFW Freshwater aquarium set up, DFW Saltwater Aquarium set-up, DFW Reef Aquarium set-up, DFW Aquarium Leasing, DFW Aquarium Sales, DFW Aquarium relocation, DFW Aquarium Movers