Aquarium and Pond Care with EcoBio-Block

Starting a new fish tank can be exciting, but that excitement could quickly fade if we failed to do a crucial first step the right way, and some or all of our fish were to die. In order to keep this from happening, the person who wants a freshwater fish tank in their home or office needs to learn the correct way of getting a new tank set up and ready for a few fishy inhabitants.

We will assume you already have your aquarium, the aquarium gravel, filter, heater, decorations, test kits, and fish food. Did we leave something out? Does this look like it is just about everything you would need to start a new fish tank? Almost, but you are forgetting a few important items. You need an aquarium vacuum, an aquarium glass scrubber, a good-sized fish net, and several five-gallon buckets.

Why do you need to worry about all this stuff when you are starting up a new fish tank? That nice, clean tank is not going to stay that way by itself! It is up to the aquarium owner to do the maintenance on his or her tank, and keep it looking and smelling clean and nice. It can be a lot of work to adhere to a schedule in order to keep a fish tank clean, and this discourages some people from ever owning a nice aquarium.

That’s a shame, because there are products out on the market now that can really help even someone with very little freshwater aquarium fish experience to keep a sparkling tank and healthy fish. One such product is from the EcoBio-Block family of products for your aquarium, and it goes by the name of EcoBio-Stone. The EcoBio-Stone-M is the size that is best for a mid-sized aquarium.

You can also purchase EcoBio-Block in other forms, such as the Pebbles or EcoBio-Stone S for smaller tanks that could go up to twenty gallons in size. An EcoBio-Stone L is the size you would need for an aquarium that could range from forty gallons all the way up to one hundred gallons.

Just what do these products do? The EcoBio products contain an inventive mixture of volcanic rock and cement with a good portion of beneficial bacteria mixed in with some nutrients for the bacteria. This bacteria is the same type that the Japanese favorite known as “Natto” has in it. All these friendly little bacteria are sealed into the EcoBio-Block; all they need to grow and prosper is a little water.

When added to aquarium water, these bacteria begin to multiply, and it won’t be long before they have taken over much of the routine maintenance work in your aquarium.
These beneficial bacteria proliferate quickly. Their job is to erode and do away with the organic matter that falls to the bottom of the tank, the mulm that you siphon up with your aquarium vacuum. Your tank water stays cleaner and of better quality without having to vacuum the substrate once a week or so.

Your aquarium will be clear, have no odor, and the bacteria will oxidize ammonia and nitrites into safer by-products. The lava rock will slowly add trace minerals and a little calcium to the tank water to balance it. An EcoBio-Block can last for up to two years. Shouldn’t you use one when starting a new fish tank?

Would you be able to handle a saltwater tank problem if you went home this evening to find one waiting for you? No one who keeps fish wants to go through an emergency with their saltwater tank, but it can certainly help to know what needs to be done if by chance you should find yourself with a saltwater tank problem.

There are three main emergencies that the saltwater tank owner needs to be prepared for if possible. Knowing what to do when faced with a leaking tank, an electrical outage, or a tank that is overheating can go a long way towards turning an emergency into a learning experience.

A leaking saltwater tank does not have to mean disaster for the carpet or floors in your home if you act quickly. If you discover a leak, bring out those clean five-gallon buckets you have collected just in case you needed them, and start dipping the salt water out of your aquarium. The idea is to save as much of the water as you can. Take a fish net, and gently catch your fish, then place them in the five-gallon buckets of aquarium water.

I hope that you have anticipated a saltwater tank problem, and have another aquarium that you can quickly set up. The longer your saltwater fish have to spend in those buckets, the greater are the chances that they may not survive. Once you get the spare tank set up, place your fish and their water into it, hook up your filters, heater, and lights, and all is well again.

If your power goes out during a storm, it could be off for ten minutes or ten days, depending on the severity of the storm and where you live. Prepare for this problem by obtaining an air pump that runs on batteries. This will help to keep the oxygen levels in your saltwater aquarium as close to normal as possible, as well as aerate the water. If it is cold, you will want to keep your fish as warm as you can. A heavy blanket wrapped around the tank will help keep the heat in.

If you live in an area where the power goes off routinely for a few days during storm season, a small portable generator of the kind used for camping could work out to be cheaper than batteries for you. You can plug the electrical accessories, such as your saltwater tank’s filtration system, heater and the like, right into the generator, which can run for several hours on a tank of fuel.

An aquarium heater that malfunctions can be dangerous to your fish if it is allowed to run unchecked. Make a habit of checking the temperature of the water on a daily basis. If you should discover that the water in your saltwater tank is too hot, immediately begin to remove some of the water in those five-gallon buckets we spoke of earlier. Set the buckets to one side once they are full, as you will be adding the water back to the tank when it is cooler.

Fill some plastic Ziploc bags with ice cubes, and float them in the aquarium. You must use the plastic bags, as regular ice cubes would dilute the salinity of your tank water. Monitor the temperature of the water in the tank as well as the water in the buckets. Remove the ice cubes when the tank water has cooled to around its usual temperature, and pour the water from the buckets back into the tanks once it is cool enough.

If you experience a saltwater tank problem like the ones mentioned here, try to stay calm and remember the procedures outlined in this article. Just by knowing what to do can keep a saltwater tank emergency from becoming a possible disaster.