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Aquarium guides/Fish tank setup

Fish tank setup: freshwater equipment in order

Set up in this order: the stand level and in place, the tank on it, the substrate and hardscape, then fill with dechlorinated water. Rinse gravel and sand, but put planted-tank soil in as its bag says, and set heavy rocks on the bottom glass before the substrate goes around them. Fit the filter and heater, let the heater stand in the water for the time its manual gives before plugging it in (30 minutes for Aqueon’s), and watch everything run for a day for drips and a steady temperature. Cycle the tank before any fish go in.

Two aquascapers setting driftwood in a large tank
Shown: two aquascapers setting driftwood in a large tank. Photo: Abhik.Mazumdar.73, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The steps in pictures

  1. Place and level the stand. Right looks like this: Level both ways, near an outlet, with room behind for the filter and hoses.

  2. Rocks, substrate, unpowered equipment. Right looks like this: Heavy rocks sit on the glass with the substrate around them; filter and heater in place, still unplugged.

  3. Fill, then wait before power. Right looks like this: Dechlorinated water to the line; the heater stands in the water for its manual’s wait (30 minutes for Aqueon’s) before you plug it in.

  4. Run it for a day. Right looks like this: No drips under the tank and a steady temperature on a separate thermometer.

  5. Cycle before fish. Right looks like this: Ammonia and nitrite read 0 ppm on daily tests before the first fish go in.

Place the stand and tank

Put the stand where the tank will live: on a solid floor, near an outlet, out of direct sun and away from heating vents and outside doors. Check it is level front to back and side to side before the tank goes on. Once it is full you cannot shift it: Aqueon gives a filled 20 long as about 225 pounds. Leave a few inches behind it for the filter, hoses and cords, and room above to open the lid and lift out the light. Start from your tank size’s equipment plan.

Use a stand made to carry an aquarium, and sit the tank on it the way the tank’s maker says; rimless tanks often come with a leveling mat to go under them. A dresser or a desk is not built for the weight. Stick on any background now, while you can reach the back glass. The filled weight calculator adds up water, glass, gravel and rock, so you know what the stand and floor will carry.

Substrate, rocks and equipment before water

Rinse gravel and sand in a bucket until the water runs nearly clear. Planted-tank soil usually goes in unrinsed: follow its bag. Set heavy rocks straight on the bottom glass and pour the substrate around them, so fish cannot dig under and topple them, and keep rock and wood away from the side glass. One to two inches of gravel is plenty for a tank without rooted plants, two to three inches for plants; the substrate calculator turns that depth into bags.

Then place the equipment while the tank is dry: the filter, the heater near the filter’s flow so warm water spreads, a thermometer at the far end where you can read it, and any airline. Mount the heater at the depth and angle its manual shows; most have a minimum water line. Check the lid and feeding opening still close around the cords and hoses. Nothing is plugged in yet.

Fill the tank and switch on

  1. Treat the water with conditioner for the volume you are adding, as its label says, and pour it onto a plate or a clean bag laid on the substrate so the gravel stays put.
  2. Fill to just below the top trim. Counting the buckets as you go tells you how much water the tank really holds.
  3. Put the filter media in the order its maker shows (filter media). Fill a hang-on-back’s box with tank water so it starts at once; prime a canister the way its manual says, since some prime themselves and others need a primer button or a siphon.
  4. Connect the air pump through a check valve, or keep the pump above the water line, so water cannot run back into it. Air pump and sponge filter setup
  5. Leave the heater standing in the water for the time its manual gives before you plug it in (30 minutes for Aqueon’s), so its thermostat reads the water. Plug everything in with a drip loop in each cord. Dry connections and drip loops
  6. Close the lid, fit the light and set its timer. How long to run it

Watch for leaks and check the temperature

Let everything run for a day before anything lives in the tank. Check the floor and stand under every seam and hose joint, the waterline (a drop means a leak, or a hose siphoning), how strongly the filter is moving water, and the thermometer against the temperature you set. Heater dials are often a degree or two out, so trust the thermometer.

If you find a leak or a wet plug, cut the power first, at the breaker or a switched outlet you can reach without touching water, then unplug the equipment, and fix the problem before you go on.

A filter that runs and a heater that holds the temperature do not mean the tank is ready: the filter has none of the bacteria that deal with fish waste yet.

Cycle the tank before fish

A new filter takes weeks to grow the bacteria that turn ammonia from fish waste into nitrate, and clear water says nothing about it. Cycle the tank before the first fish: dose ammonia to about 2 ppm (the Merck Veterinary Manual gives 1 to 5 ppm for a fishless cycle) and test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate until ammonia and nitrite both read 0 a day after each dose. The cycling guide and its log take you through it day by day; check your kit tests all three.

Then add fish a few at a time, so the bacteria can catch up with each addition. Bringing new fish home

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