Different Aquarium Designs

There are many different aquarium designs available, and choosing one for you really depends on the space you have, what kinds of fish are going to call it home, and the uniqueness of the individual. Prices too can vary greatly, from small simple tanks that sit on a desk or table top, holding just a few fish and decorations, to huge tanks, which can holds hundreds of gallons of water, house a wide assortment of fish and decorations. These small tanks can cost well under a hundred dollars, while larger ones can run into the hundreds, and even thousands of dollars.

Here are just some of the fish tank ideas to choose from.

If you have a small area, or want to have your tank in an out of the way location, then a corner fish tank is a good idea.

Many of these have their own cabinets that they sit on, with plenty of storage space for the filtering equipment, heaters, food, and other accessories. These are great for not only the home, but your office as well.

They don't take up a lot of space, and fit easily into an unused corner.

There is also a really cool fish tank that makes an excellent conversation piece, the coffee table fish tank.

This is a clear glass or acrylic tank, with a table top and can sit in the center of your living room.

They come in many different styles, an can provide a great source of entertainment, not only for you and your guests, but for pets as well. In the evening, they can add a warm glow to your living room, without having to turn on an over head light.

Some of these are also available in a dining room model as well.

Read more on Aquarium Designs, click How To Design Unique Aquariums

How Pros Build Most Unique Aquariums

Coming up with well-designed aquariums is something best left to the fish tank experts. A person just starting out as an aquarist will have a difficult time without consultation with hobbyists who already know by heart the success factors that go into the design of a thriving aquarium.

Prior research on the hobby will also be helpful as background information will help the starting aquarist to be familiar with what goes into the most unique aquariums and have a better appreciation of what the expert aquarists are saying.

One of the basic understanding that a hobbyist new in raising and is keeping aquarium fish is the materials that are used in the fish tanks. The most common materials used are glass panes joined together by silicone and the joints, bottom and tops usually reinforced by plastic frame attachments, for added durability.

Advanced glass designs are now also available, enabling production of brace-less and rimless aquariums. These fish tanks usually come with podium stands with cabinets underneath. Laminated glass and float glass are also popular as aquarium construction material. Float glass are often preferred for it allows the display of the natural colors of plants, corals and fishes inside the aquarium.

Directly competing with glass as material for aquariums is acrylic. Aquariums made of acrylic have the advantage of being stronger and lighter than those made of glass. Another edge that acrylic aquariums have over glass fish tanks is in the fusing process.

Special cements that are acrylic-soluble are used to join together the acrylic panels, resulting in cleaner and stronger joints. Acrylic’s better flexibility also enables aquarists to have options on aquariums designed with extraordinary shapes like hexagonal fish tanks. One disadvantage of acrylic aquariums is that these could scratch easily. Click here to see more aquarium furniture

In various endeavors to come up with the most unique aquariums, aquarists have fashioned many designs. Imagination is the only limit in designing extraordinary fish tanks. One fine example is a design called the Macquarium, a fish tank fashioned out of an Apple Macintosh computer’s shell.

Some aquarists with an unorthodox sense of humor had toilet-inspired aquarium designs. Other fish tank models like those fashioned into sinks or coffee tables may not be as eccentric but are nonetheless still unconventional. For delicate aquatic animals, what is needed is a kreisel tank. This is a circular aquarium designed for circular, slow and gentle water flow.

A well-designed aquarium, however, need not have the complicated systems required in a kreisel tank. The systems that would already make a fish tank functional include those needed for filtration, lighting, heating or chilling depending on what types of living organisms, in addition to fish, are included in the aquarium.
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Most aquariums would have a combination of mechanical and biological filtration systems. Choosing which filtration system to use is one of the vital issues that a starting aquarist has to resolve through consultation with an expert hobbyist. The filtration system will help balance the varying requirements of aquatic plants and fish in the tank, upon which most unique aquariums cannot do without.

How to build unique aquarium setups

Keeping fish and aquatic plants in unique aquarium setups is one way of enlivening home or office décor.

The space available and individual preferences would dictate the choices on which aquarium to use or purchase. For those with very limited space, fish bowls are often chosen.

These are suitable for coffee table tops, and as their name suggests are glass containers shaped into bowls.

These fish bowls are often too small to put much creativity into their setups. It can contain only a maximum of a pair of fish and perhaps a small aquatic plant. Such an arrangement, however, would make for easy maintenance, particularly in the changing of water which needs to be regularly done.

Clearly, a more imaginative aquarium setup would require lots of work and patience, in addition to ample space that they need in a home or office.

If one is just starting out in keeping decorative fishes as a hobby, one of the best things to do is join an aquarist society.

These organizations are usually very helpful to tyros on the hobby and their members can provide the right advice on the suitable aquarium, fishes and equipment related to their chosen pastime.

Another helpful source of information would be the pet shops selling aquarium fish and paraphernalia.

One needs to be careful though when seeking the help of staff from these commercial establishments. Conceivably, what these people would like is for people to purchase as much products from them as possible.

The more astute thing to do is compare the opinions and information from members of aquarist societies with whatever can be gathered from pet shop sales persons. This way an uninitiated in the hobby can have a fairly well-educated background on what constitutes unique aquarium setups.

The aquarium alone in properly maintaining decorative fishes could be a source of utter confusion to a neophyte in the hobby.

The tyro hobbyist has to decide whether to get an aquarium made of glass or plastic. If the latter is chosen, it has to be ensured that the material is high strength or high grade plastic. When it comes to shape, the usual choice are the cube-shaped aquariums which are also called fish tanks.

Then, the aspiring aquarist has to determine the special types of equipment that are necessary to maintain the water quality conducive to the growth and survival of the fishes and aquatic plants in the aquarium.

A filtration system is the type of equipment that will ensure the proper water quality, and what system to use will depend on several factors such as the size of the aquarium and the types of fishes being kept in the tank.

Another important piece of aquarium paraphernalia is a lighting system.

This will not only enable better appreciation of the unique aquarium setups that expert aquarists come up with but also enable propagation of the aquatic plants that are de rigueur for well-designed fish tanks.

Another important aquarium component is the hood which are installed to prevent the fish from jumping out of the tank as well as help deter water evaporation.

Lights for the most unique fish tanks

Determining the appropriate lighting for aquariums is an important consideration to come up with the most unique fish tanks. The illumination of an aquarium is crucial in the proper maintenance of the water and the upkeep of denizens that the tank contains, i.e. the fishes and aquatic plants inside. The illumination could also serve as an interesting accent or as mood light in a room.

The different light systems available for aquariums generally fall into four categories: fluorescent, incandescent, high-intensity discharge, and halogen. The choice of which of these systems to pick would depend on the aquarium set up, and on what color of illumination an aquarist prefers.

Each aquarium’s lighting, however, should basically enhance the plant growth in the vegetation in the fish tank, as well as have a positive influence on the coral and invertebrate components that are common in most unique aquariums.

If aquarium lighting is inappropriate, this could result in some problems that are related to carbon dioxide buildup, impaired plant photosynthesis and development of undesirable nutrients in the water.

What is most important to remember is that light acts as a catalyst in a fish tank. For example, if red light illumination is too much and the water is nutrient-rich, algae growth will be stimulated which is undesirable in maintaining water clarity.

Too much illumination of any kind will also make the fish uneasy swimming above an aquarium’s water column. Hence, it would be a good idea to allot areas in the aquarium where there are shelters from the tank’s lighting system.

The most common aquarium lighting systems are those incorporating fluorescent lights. Ideally, the fluorescent tubes should be changed regularly, within a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months. Older tubes lose brightness significantly which could jeopardize plant growth in the aquarium.

For economy, the best choice is the four-foot long fluorescent tubes as these will emit light for a longer period of time than shorter tubes.

Blue and red lights are suited for fish tanks for catfish as this species don’t perceive blue and red colors, maximizing their visibility for enjoyment in the aquarium. >>Click Here To Watch Aquarium Lighting Effects<<

Halide or halogen lights are best to promote plant growth and invertebrate development because they produce more intense illumination.

However, halide illumination systems are more expensive. Additionally, the heat that these systems produce is more intense and could make the fish inside the tank uneasy. The solution of course is design a fish tank with lots of shelter, like corals and plants, inside the aquarium.

Another option is to use halogen lights in combination with fluorescent illumination.

To regulate the heat from illumination in an aquarium, alternate use of halogen and fluorescent lights could be done.

Incandescent lighting, of lesser intensity than halogen, could likewise be combined with fluorescent illumination. The incandescent bulbs have the advantage of being longer-lasting as long as they are not switched on and off too often.

Their drawback is the red color they contain which encourages algae growth which are not conducive to most unique fish tanks.

How to Design Unique Aquariums

How to design unique aquariums?
There are several ways by which one can do this, actually. You can rely on your own creative instinct or get a few tips from other people through reading books or looking at samples online. In this article, Ill provide you with some tips that would hopefully help you out and enable you to create a really unique and standout aquarium set up.

1. First, think about the size of your aquarium. Knowing just how much stuff you can fit in it would help you plan your design. Remember that too much stuff inside a small aquarium would only make it look cluttered and messy. Besides, do consider the fact that there would be living creatures residing in it and that they would need enough swimming space. Also, too much décor could actually be dangerous for your fishes to plan your design wisely.

2. After plotting out a design that would fit nicely within the space you have, its time to pick out the décor. Typical aquarium decorations include pebbles, polished stones, colored stones, plants and even the rather kitschy miniature fish houses and figurines. However, the current design trend leans towards a more modern look which means something more streamlined and showcasing the beauty of the fishes more. Subtle colored stones and corals would definitely add a more natural touch. More info on Unique Aquarium Decorations

3. Another great thing to keep in mind when you’re looking for ways on how to design unique aquariums would be the lighting. Not many people actually think about the way their aquariums are lighted but this small detail could actually make a statement. Typically, people would have yellow or fluorescent lighting on their aquariums which is more functional than decorative. It would be great if you play around with the lighting a bit and using it to highlight the interesting bits of your aquarium. Blue lighting would be gorgeous as it would mimic the blue of the ocean and give the whole space a more relaxing feel. More info on Aquarium Lighting

4. You shouldn’t limit yourself to the typical rectangular aquariums because there are plenty more unique options available to you. For example, there are the tubular aquariums that are great for people who don’t really have much space in their homes. They can be placed in a corner and still shine because of their unique shape. So do look at all the available designs and choose one that would fit the space you have available and your style.
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5. How to design unique aquariums? Be imaginative. If you have a vision that can’t be achieved by your own two hands, why not order a custom made aquarium? This would enable you to get the one that you really want and since it is a customized piece it would be one of a kind. Remember to play around with shape, lighting and the color. But of course, don’t forget the kind of fish that you want to have since they should be the centerpiece. So whatever it is that you plan on doing with the aquarium, it should only enhance the beauty of the fish and not clash with it. More Unique Aquarium Ideas