"The aquarium represents not only the most beautiful, but also the most educational and multi-faceted activity," said Kaspar Horst, author of "My First Aquarium".

Owning an aquarium is not just about feeding your fishes well and changing the water frequently, you should also consider many other aspects such as the temperature, acidity, conductivity, light, oxygen, hardness of the water, etc.

You should also monitor the water quality regularly so that fishes will not be subjected to stress and fish-diseases will be prevented. In this page, we will be exploring the conditions of managing an aquarium.

First of all, the quality of the water in an aquarium is as important to fishes, as the air you breathe is to you. Even more so, because these life forms have to rely on you, the owner of the aquarium.

The only way for you to know how good or bad the water quality really is, is by testing it on a regular basis, and keeping notes of the results in a diary.

Testing and keeping records is important in a basic reef aquarium. Moreover, keeping records will enable you to monitor on how your tank "behaves". Any deviation in water quality parameters will be detected, as you will be able to refer to previous readings.

The most important test on your aquarium are pH, dissolved oxygen, ammonia and nitrite. Other tests that can be monitored are conductivity, temperature, hardness, nitrate, phosphate, residual ozone (if you are using an ozonizer), iron (if you keep macro-algae and fertilize), copper and total chorine.

pH is a unit of measure that describes the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution. It is measure on a scale of 0 to 14. Technically, pH is defined as the negative logarithms of the hydrogen ion activity or concentration.

pH = -log[H+]

The value of pH 7.0 represents neutrality. Below pH 7.0 is acid and above 7.0 is alkaline.

Most of the fish species are happy in water within a range of pH 6.0 to 7.5, but others need water maintained to an even more exact specification. General conditions within the tank, and particularly the level of carbon dioxide, have an effect on the water's pH levels. This makes it even more important that you monitor the water carefully, since a sudden shift in pH, even a small one, may represent a danger to aquarium life. This is especially true in soft, acid-water tanks where there are more hydrogen ions present than in hard water.

In a well-planted tank, where there is a substantial uptake of carbon dioxide and nitrate by the plants, hydrogen ions will be steadily used up. So there will be an increase in pH, unless you take steps to replenish carbon dioxide levels. In an aquarium that contains poor, or scant plant growth, however, the trend is towards a rise in potentially harmful nitrate levels and a decline in the levels of both pH and alkalinity.

Are you still measuring pH with litmus paper? Do you realise that this old method is INACCURATE and INEFFICIENT?
It's time to change to use Trans' high performance, lightweight, pocket size and digital ECO pH Plus tester. This compact tester is easy to use. Just turn it on and dip into sample solution.

For continue monitoring the pH value in the aquarium tank, install AquaSentry-1, a non-stop pH/Temperature Display monitor.

Commercial adjusters, or buffers, which are based on sodium acid phosphate to increase acidity and sodium bicarbonate to increase alkalinity can be use to maintain the required pH range, should the need arises after testing.

Conductivity is a measure of water's ability to conduct an electrical current, which is dependent on the concentration of minerals in the water. The unit used in measuring water conductivity is called the 'Microsiemens' (µS) for water of low salt content. For water rich in salt content, the Millisiemens (mS) is used.

1 mS = 1000 µS

Conductivity measures the total salt minerals present in water and individual salt cannot be differential. Nevertheless, a useful rule of thumb is:

Conductivity in µS  = 2 (Dissolved solids in ppm of NaCI)

Water's salt content is vital for successful breeding of many fish. The salt content exerts a decisive influence on the fish eggs' osmotic pressure i.e. the pressure existing between the inner and outer solution. This results in the egg's ability to expand or to contract when confronted with unaccustomed salt conditions. Expansion and contraction of the egg can destroy its ability to develop.

Are you still measuring dissolved mineral in water using a hydrometer?
A conductivity tester or meter can give higher accuracy and detect changes that are too small to register on a hydrometer yet important in an aquarium that requires very stable condition, such as a breeding aquarium or nursery.

Trans's Senz µSiemen is a self-contained, digital pocket size conductivity meter with cell and automatic temperature compensator. It provides quick and accurate reading. All you need to do is to turn the tester on and dip into sample solution. Any irregularities of the conductivity can be corrected by adding water.

Oxygen is vital to the life cycle of aquarium inhabitants. It is essential to maintaining the species of animals kept in the aquarium and for the aerobic bacterial necessary for the proper functioning of a closed aquarium system. A minimum concentration of 4 mg/L dissolve oxygen is adequate for most aquarium populations.

Many factors affect the dissolved oxygen content of water and frequent test for dissolved oxygen is most important. Temperature affects the oxygen-holding capacity of water. As the temperature increases, the amount of dissolved oxygen decreases.

With Trans's WalkLAB Digital Dissolved Oxygen meter, oxygen measurement can now be made in situ. There is no need of a sampling device and a flask to retain water in its natural state for later analysis in the laboratory. The meter has high performance, good repeatability and high accuracy. It measures 0 to 20 mg/l.

Fish have upper and lower limits of temperature tolerance and temperature above or below this range result in stress. A sudden temperature change may lower disease resistance of fish and increase their susceptibility to infections.

Nitrate is a vital source of nutrition for plants, but aquarium plant are by nature not accustomed to large quantities of it. In natural environments, they survive on very low levels of nitrogen in the form of ammonium and a trace of nitrate. With high levels of nitrate in the tank, the danger of attracting unwanted algae rise especially the dreaded blue and beard algae which prefer to feed on nitrate.

Oxygen reduction potential (ORP) can be used to indicate the oxygen level in water. ORP represents the balance of electrons in water. Water with a high ORP is of high quality, containing much surplus oxygen and complete mineralization of all waste organic material. If the ORP is too low, there is a chance that oxidation and mineralization may not occur at all and the waste products accumulate to become toxic substances.

A balance salt-water aquarium should have a reading of between 350mV to 400mV. In freshwater aquarium readings of 250mV are sufficient. Trans's Eco Redox is an ideal tool to measure the ORP value.

Lighting is one of the important areas of concern for the home aquarist in ensuring a healthy, well-balanced and flourishing aquarium. Plants are quite demanding in their light requirements. Incorrect lighting may favour the growth of certain undesirable algae at the expense of algae and plants you want to encourage.

Types of light
Human eye responds to aquarium lit with a yellow/green light because it appears warmer and more appealing. Plants, however, prefer the red/blue ends of the spectrum. Although some light is absorbed in water, the average aquarium is not deep enough, or normally cloudy enough, for this to make an appreciable difference. Manufactures of lights have responded to the different needs of aquarists by producing an extensive range of bulb types and qualities.

Measuring Light
Assessing the quantity of light without the aid of a light meter is very subjective. You need a light meter to measure the intensity accurately. Light from a particular source is measured in lumens, but for the aquarist, it is more important to know the amount of lumens per square meter or "lux" of water surface area than simply the light's total output.

Light requirements
The actual requirements of many aquatic plants vary tremendously: some have evolved to grow in dim light, while others are habituated to the full glare of an equatorial sun. Although many plants are adaptable, nearly all have preferences for specific light levels. Providing lighting levels outside of these tolerance ranges for extended periods may adversely affect growth.

As you can see for the table above, marine organisms tend to prefer intense levels of light. Freshwater plants, however, usually prefer light levels lower than those of algae. The maximum rates of photosynthesis occur at 10 to 20,000 lux for many common species of vascular plant and yet algae continue increasing until 35,000 lux (values that actually inhibit plant growth). This means that excess illumination, either from the aquarium lights or from sunlight, may favour algae's growth over plant growth.

It is also important that you replicate the natural diurnal period expected by fishes and plants, so light the aquarium for only 10 to 16 hours per day. To avoid stressing the fishes, never switch the lamps on and off suddenly; switch off the aquarium lights a few minutes before turning off the room light; and switch the room light on before the tank lights. Some marine aquarists leave a low-wattage red light on the tank all night. This is because in nature, marine fishes rarely experience total darkness.

The standard level of fluorescent light required is in the region of 0.016 to 0.022 watts per sq. cm (0.10 to 0.14 watts per sq. in). For marine tanks, an Actinic Blue 03 tube should accompany the fluorescent tube. For coral reef tank, metal halide lamps are better than fluorescent. Use as recommended by the manufacturer.

No sure of the measurements of your aquarium's light? Now you can use Tran's AquaLiteCheck tester. Not only does the meter has high performance, good repeatability and high accuracy, there also has a wide range of light measurements up to 50,000 Lux.