Frequently asked questions 

We have added some of the enquiries that we are often asked and hope that the answers to these questions may be useful to others. We will continue to add interesting topics.

Native Saltwater Aquariums (UK) 

Q)  I recently wrote to you concerning gaining information about Anthozoa ,native sea anemones

A.) I understand your request and agree that the amount of information available about native species is relatively limited.

Whilst we have experience with native sea life through customers who have attempted keeping cold water marine aquariums we never have, and probably never will, sell any native species for the hobbyist. I would be surprised to learn of any other genuine aquatic retailers who do so.

As an aquatic retailer who bases our ethics on helping people to be successful aquarists, In our experience over many years, most of those who have been interested in this area of aquatics look at it as a way of keeping a marine aquarium more cheaply, catching their stock themselves. Nothing wrong with that part, however they are surprised when they learn that they can't use local seawater without a major clean up and that it is actually cheaper and certainly far quicker to buy the synthetic salt mix that is commercially produced. They then have to go through the same maturation processes as with a warm water marine set up which involves buying test kits and other equipment, plus being colder water it takes far longer. They then learn that not only do they need excellent filtration, as with all saltwater aquariums, to ensure that they don't get a copepod explosion (Copepods (ˈkoʊpɪpɒd; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat) they will need a aquarium chiller, (water cooler) because if the water warms above the normal habitat temperatures they breed like mad and absorb all the available oxygen, wiping out all life in the aquarium. Aquarium chiller's are expensive, minimum two to three hundred pounds, which compared to a twenty pound heater, start to make tropical marine keeping a cheaper option and more attractive when the animal can be purchased from an aquarium rather than caught from the sea.

So apart from the information above I am unable to help you much further in your studies but I do  wish you the best of luck with your examinations.

Moving and established aquarium 

Q. We bought a juwel rekord 60 aquarium from you a couple of years ago. We are moving house now and are concerned about how to move the fish! Please could you give us some advice about the best way of relocating the tank etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A.The main requirement of the fish will be not to change their existing conditions anymore than is necessary and to avoid 'new tank syndrome' where all the useful bacteria in the aquarium is destroyed during the changeover.

On the day of the change firstly catch your fish, bagging them up in the same way as a shop does when you buy fish, basic rule is one third water and two thirds air in a bag sealed with a rubber band. Most shops will give/sell you a few bags and show you how to do this. Not too many fish per bag. Next job, before you drain the water is to use another bag and a scoop/teacup to collect some gravel from the base of the aquarium and bag it the same way as though there were fish in the bag, two or three cupfuls is enough. Put this and the bagged fish into an insulated container so that there are no major changes in temperature and the fish are then in the dark which makes them less active.

Ensuring that all the power is off to the aquarium, drain and clean, do not attempt to move it with any water or gravel in it because if the base gets twisted during the lift, with the additional weight, it could crack. Pack the aquarium for travel as necessary to protect the glass. Relocate the aquarium in its new surroundings, put everything back having washed and thoroughly rinsed the gravel, otherwise the disturbance will set up clouds of small particles trapped in the gravel. Fill to a couple of inches below the normal surface level and get the water to the correct temperature, reconnect the power supply ensuring that the heater, if one is used, is under water. Once the aquarium is running, treat with a dechlorinator and then float the bag containing the dirty gravel in the aquarium to allow the bag to adjust to the aquarium temperature. After about fifteen minutes remove the rubber band and gently tip the gravel into a pile in the middle of the aquarium, leave the pile for a few days, either the fish or you can level later on. This seeds the aquarium with the same useful bacteria that were in the aquarium in the previous location, ensuring good denitrification and very similar conditions as previously. A small cloud of particles will rise from this gravel but it will soon clear.

When this is done float your fish on the top of the aquarium, the lower water level should allow you to do this and after fifteen minutes, open the bags roll the neck down so that they float and add a cupful of water to each bag to allow it to mix with the old water, after fifteen minutes release the fish and water into the aquarium and adjust the water level as necessary. A simple operation that takes a little time but following this procedure, regardless of whether the fish are coldwater, tropical or saltwater, the fish will have the minimum disturbance and will settle very quickly back in their familiar surroundings. The fish should be fine for several hours during this procedure providing they are correctly bagged up in this way, any doubts on this consult your local store and they may even give you a polystyrene box to transport your fish in. Good luck with the move and I hope this helps.

How do I find things on the Website?

Q. Great website - but on others I get can't find what I am looking for and then get lost, how do I look at what you have for sale.

A. The quick answer is to type in a description of what you want into our search box and the product should be listed, however you may describe it a little differently to our description and not get the answer you wanted. As a guide to our layout, every section has five areas, Home, Happy Healthy, Smart and Gourmet. In the case of Aquariums if you are looking for fish food that would be in Gourmet, a plastic plant for decoration would be in Smart and the Aquarium itself would be in home. We have tried to make things as logical as possible and more interesting by not having long lists of categories. Looking for animal medicines or vitamins, try the Healthy section for the animal you want, see it's easy. Thanks for your enquiry, we like your opening comment!

Q. Changing to an external filter.

A. The maintenance required for the filter very much depends on your aquarium set up, basically how dirty your fish are. The foam layers trap the particles and can eventually reduce flow in all filters, it would be reasonable to clean these every two to three months by a simple rinse. If you use carbon to purify the water, remember this would need to be removed if treating for white spot or similar as it would remove the medicine, this needs replacing at approximately the same period. That just leaves the biological medium, normally ceramic cylinders or balls where the useful bacteria form colonies and they convert the harmful nitrites to the less harmful nitrates, this should never be rinsed or sterilised completely as you will destroy the useful bacteria. If it requires cleaning then leave at least a quarter of it dirty and rinse the rest, then the colony can reform quickly. The pump unit on modern external filters are very quiet, the only real noise comes from the re-entry of the water into the aquarium. For best aeration the returned water should cause the surface to ripple however if you return the water above the surface the splash can be noisy, place the pipe below the surface it is silent. Try to have the return just on the surface so that it s quiet but effective. The delivery costs of the filter to Aberdeen are the same as the rest of the UK  for normal parcels, its only the pallet carriers delivering aquariums and other such bulky items that require additional charges for longer distances. I hope this helps with your planning and thank you for the kind comments about our website.

Can I keep locally caught sea creatures?

It is of course possible to keep both fish and invertebrates caught from local shores, however the potential keepers must understand that the aquarium and equipment is a similar cost to that of setting up a coral reef aquarium, but because the wildlife is free to catch the value of the animal appears to be different, no doubt if local small crabs, anemones and colourful shrimps were sold in aquatic shops then the value would be seen as higher.

The aquarium would be set up in a similar way with filtration capable of biological action to remove the nitrites, gravel or sand for a base medium and the new coldwater would have synthetic sea salt added to correct level, checking with a hydrometer, exactly as if it were a coral reef aquarium. The difference is the lack of heater, which has an effect on the amount of salt used because at lower temperatures the hydrometer reads a little differently.

Seawater cannot be used because of the amount of pollution contained which would explode in an aquarium. Most of the Zoo aquariums in the UK either use synthetic salts or store water underground in the dark for at least six months, it's cheaper to use a synthetic mix.

The final drawback, if the temperature rises then little pests called copepods who reside with their animal hosts, over breed like mad and use up all the oxygen in the aquarium, which then destroys the filtration and the animals cannot survive, so in the summer, or if the aquarium is kept in a warm room then you will need a water chiller. These are available but cost a similar amount to a small refrigerator.

To sum up, it is possible to keep local sea creatures, they deserve and demand to be kept well so the aquarium is going to cost money to set up and remember that a small amount of water changes its state, temperature, salt level, pollution, much more quickly than a large one and water life hates change, so a larger aquarium it is!

So cost and understanding is the downside, the upside is the great time you can have finding your pets for free.

How much gravel do I need?

Q. I am trying to make my mind up on which aquarium to buy but want to know how much gravel and other bits I need, how can I find out.

A. Of course we help with email answers or on our helpline, but as a general guide, go to our Equipment Recommendations page, a link is at the bottom of our aquarium Information box on the aquarium home page, this gives recommendations for lots of sizes of aquariums and we hope is useful. I have also included a link here. Aquarium Equipment Recommendations.

New Aquarium is cloudy.

Q. I have set up my aquarium according to the instructions but the water is still cloudy even after I have introduced a few fish, what is wrong please?

A. Slight cloudiness in an aquarium that is new is normal, when the good bacteria establish themselves it will clear. The process is as follows at tropical temperatures, it may be a little slower at coldwater temperatures. This is the same in both fresh and saltwater aquaria. This assumes the filtration is adequate for the aquarium

First week  - fish settling in, some waste created - do not overfeed.

Second week  - nitrites start to rise, this can be proven using a nitrite test kit if one needs to.

Third week - nitrites become very high, dangerous for susceptible fish but those tolerant will cope. Do not overfeed.

Fourth week -balanced  colonies of denitrifying bacteria start to form and the toxic nitrite is converted to les harmful nitrates and the aquarium is established. The water at this stage will be crystal clear and may well clear earlier.

That is a simplistic version of what happens in aquariums that are new. The value of the good bacteria cannot be overemphasised, once established the whole aquarium should not be completely sterilised by over cleaning, always leave some gravel unwashed for example. The cloudiness should be like a thin fog, if it becomes more of a milky appearance, partial water changes and no food for a few days.

If anything different to the above is happening please contact us.

Aquarium in a bedroom 

Q. Can you recommend a tank and filter that would be the most silent possible to go in a bedroom and not keep someone awake?!  It is for two goldfish, 1 rather large, probably about 7 inches and apparently growing

A.  It's not so much the fish tank that is important but the method used for driving the filter and aerating the water that can be the cause of noise. In any quiet situation don't use an air pump, use an internal filter which is a water pump sitting in the aquarium, it passes the water through a filter and returns it to the main body of the aquarium, near but just below the surface, causing oxygen to be absorbed into the clean water. This is a near silent operation and the perfect solution for bedroom aquariums.

Dog itchy skin

Q. I wonder if you would be so kind as to let me know if you stock Skin-Eze.  I have a young Lhasa Apso who suffers terribly with itchy skin, ears, legs and feet.  We have tried absolutely everything and we are now desperate to find something for her. 

A. We do stock Skin-Eze. If you go to our website and enter Skin-eze into our search box on the left panel, include the hyphen, the product will be shown. You may also be interested in the Tea Tree cream or sprays by the same manufacturer. You may have already considered the dogs diet, but if not please do as it is the most common reason for allergic reactions and may well be the cause. Try Gluten free foods or wheat free. I would suggest the James Wellbeloved range or Royal Canin as the first choice. With most dog foods you can get your money back if the dog won't eat it so there is not much risk. Be a bit wary of vets suggesting a veterinary only diet as you could end up with a very expensive feeding program. Use creams as an immediate relief, but the problem is caused by something and your dog and everyone else will be a lot happier if you can find the solution.

Web Site Security

Q. If I order from your website are my details secure and how do I know you are a proper company with ethical business practices.

A. On our home page, the first page that opens when you enter our website, on the right hand side, there is an advert box entitled 'Your Security and Protection' pointing out that our website is checked daily by HACKER SAFE and we are further secured by ENTRUST as a company and that all information, from names and addresses to payment details are secure and that we trade in an ethical manner. Hackersafe check the entire website daily, which is reflected by their logo at the top right of every page. Entrust were the also the first company back in the nineties to offer security checks to internet purchasers and we are delighted to meet their requirements. We pay substantial subscriptions to both companies to protect us all. We would recommend you to make your purchases  through similarly secure websites.