Latest Addition

So where are the fish? It turns out you have to set up an aquarium quite awhile before you add fish to it. I thought all it needed was a few days to let the chlorine disspate, but it takes a few weeks to be totally ready. There are actually three fish in there (you can see one or two by clicking on the picture), but they're small, mostly black (also the color of the gravel), and a bit reclusive. They don't often swim higher than a few inches off the floor and prefer to stay in little caves and alcoves in the tank. In another week, we should be ready to add the rest of the fish we intend to keep in this tank. They will be bigger and different colors.

I've passively looked at owning an aquarium for awhile. We have a neighbor who is quite the aquarist and recently downsized from two tanks to one big one. He and his wife gave us the tank, the filter, the stand, live plants, and the three fish. We've spent the last couple of weekends looking for other fish, the canopy, and the landscaping for the tank.

After taking care of a swimming pool, a small fish tank shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

Size in gallons:

Tank: 30

Pool: 12,000

Time to fill:

Tank: 5 minutes

Pool: 30 hours

Filter:

Tank: Weighs a couple of pounds, runs continuously, pumps 300 gallons per hour

Pool: Filled with 400 pounds of sand, probably a couple hundred pounds more total, not that you'd want to lift it. Runs between 4 and 10 hours a day, depending on season, 1200 gallons per hour

Bacteria:

Tank: Growth encouraged

Pool: Great time and expense devoted to banishing bacteria

Chlorine:

Tank: Special chemical added to de-chlorinate water for the safety of the swimmers

Pool: Lots of effort and expense to add and maintain chlorine in the water for the safety of the swimmers

Sand and rocks:

Tank: Added for aesthetic and functional purposes

Pool: Death to the plaster and filter