Decorating Your Aquarium, Using Roots, Cork, Peat, and Reeds, and the Deep Sea World of Scotland Aquarium

Decorating Your Aquarium. The most decorative and important decision you can make in an aquarium is the use of plants. Many people prefer plastic plants for maintenance ease; however, these plants do not aid in gas exchanges (oxygen and carbon dioxide). When used, other means of gas exchange must be used.

Plants are so much more than just decorative features in your aquarium and you should take as much care choosing them as you do choosing your fish. Some aquarists even go so far as to believe that they are more important than the fish. Plants are not appropriate for all aquariums, because some large fish dig so hard in the gravel or sand that plants can't survive. Other fish are plant eaters. In either of these instances, an aquarium can only be decorated with decorative stones and roots.

If you simply must use live plants in these two instances, use ferns, fish reluctantly eat ferns.

Substrate, the under layer on the bottom of your aquarium is another source of derision among aquarists. One thing is certain that fertilizing with humus or peat is totally wrong! It leads to rotting spots in the substrate, which causes plant roots to die.

Fine gravel, between 1 and 5 mm has proven itself suitable for plant growth. It is better for the grains to be a little too large than too small. Many people feel it is better to cover the finer gravel with a layer of coarser gravel. Whether to add fertilizer to the substrate is a source of debate, and you should make this decision after much study.

Rocks are essential when decorating an aquarium. When used properly, they can act as a disguise for unattractive filters and heaters. When stacked they make wonderful caves and hiding holes for fish that wish to use them. They can be used to build terraces and for shaping the substrate! If they are chosen with care they are quite beautiful. A little tip is to wet the rock before you buy it, this way you can see what it will look like under water!

Using Roots, Cork, Peat, and Reeds The dead roots of alders, oaks, and beeches are excellent for decorating your aquarium. The more bizarre god pine wood is especially useful because these roots have rested in the peat bog soil for a very long time.

However, before using boil them thoroughly. This not only kills the germs and small living creatures you don't want in your aquarium; but, it also forces enough air out to cause the roots to sink to the bottom of your aquarium. Dry roots will need to be soaked long enough for them to absorb water. Choose the smaller pieces of wood because it is easy to get too much in the aquarium when selecting the woods.

Directing the air roots of some house plants is another way to decorate your aquarium as they branch beautifully and remove some of the nitrates from the water. Cork bark is chemically neutral and won't give off any noxious tank chemicals. Cork never loses its buoyancy regardless of how long you soak it; therefore, it needs to be weighted to stay on the bottom. You may also glue it with rubber cement prior to decorating; but, remember it will be impossible to move if you don't like its location.

Cork boards can be very useful for decorating the back wall or building terraces. Peat should only be put in an aquarium in certain cases. Some peats are woven with wood and create a beautiful rear wall. Be aware that peat disintegrates after a short period of time; gives off tannic acid, which acidifies the water; and also tends to discolor the water.

Reeds are wonderful to replicate a rice paddy by using small pieces of bamboo or pepper reeds to decorate. Use varying sizes and plant them in small groups to simulate the natural growth of reeds. Your imagination is the only thing that limits the ideas you can use in your aquarium.

Remember one thing though, shells from the ocean tend to harden the water, and should not be used in fresh water tanks.

Deep Sea World of Scotland Aquarium

There is always something new at the Deep Sea World of Scotland Aquarium located beneath the world-famous Forth Rail Bridge, North Queensferry in Fife.

Deep Sea World has two seal pools, one to care for injured and rescued seals brought to them by the SPCA, while the other houses the permanent seal residents of Deep Sea World.

The resident seals consist of the two species of seals commonly breed around the UK, the grey seal and the common or harbor seal. The facilities are able to care for up to 10 pups for the time it takes them to gain weight, so they can be released back into the wild. One to two months is the standard time period.

One function of Deep Sea World is to assist the SPCA in rehabilitating and returning seals to their natural habitat, thus giving them the best chance of survival. Deep Sea World also provides a Shark Awareness Course. This course is for qualified divers and aids their knowledge and understanding of how to dive safely around sharks. It is a full day in length and provides lunch and lectures on conservation and shark biology. Each day ends with a dive in the shark tank which includes one of Europe's largest collections of tiger sharks.

The Underwater Tunnel holds a million gallons of water, and is one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world. The curve of the 2.6-inch (6.5-cm) acrylic causes everything to appear about 30% smaller which sends the imagination of visitors reeling when they look at the sizes of the large sharks on display! How big are they really?

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