What you need before filling
Tick each line once you have chosen the part. The equipment planner keeps your tank’s measurements and the choices still to make in one place.
What depends on your setup
- Heater
- For tropical fish, unless your room stays as warm as they need all year. Size it from the maker’s chart for your water and the coldest the room gets. Heater size
- Air pump, airline and check valve
- For a sponge filter, or for a battery pump kept ready for power cuts. A hang-on-back or canister does not need one.
- Light, and a timer
- Needed for live plants, nice to have for viewing. Check it fits your rim and lid, and for plants, read the maker’s PAR figure rather than the watts. Light fit
- Lid
- Most fish jump sometimes, and a lid slows evaporation. Buy the top made for your tank model, with room for hoses and cords.
The planted equipment list adds what a planted tank needs.
What can wait
CO₂, app-controlled lights, automatic feeders, decorative backgrounds and spare gadgets can all wait until you have a job for them. The one extra worth having early is a battery air pump for power cuts. Power-outage plan
Check what’s in the box
Check what each model comes with and what you have to buy separately: one filter arrives with media and hoses, another without. Each model page lists media, mounting and upkeep, and the first-year cost calculator adds it up; leave a price blank if you don’t know it yet.
With everything chosen, follow the setup steps, and remember that a running filter is not yet a tank ready for fish.