Spawnings in progress

Marine animals, and particularly bony fish, commonly reproduce by broadcast spawning. This is an external method of reproduction where the female releases many unfertilised eggs into the water. At the same time, a male or many males release a lot of sperm into the water which fertilises some of these eggs.

It’s not often that we arrive to perform fish tank cleaning to find 2 spawnings in progress.

Whilst performing aquarium cleaning in Bury today we noted that our clients pair of golden damsels had spawned and attached their eggs to the rear of the tank. We were very careful to clean around the eggs so as not to disturb them.

Also, our clients giant clam started spawning. The clam is a large 10″ long Derasa which we originally supplied to a previous customer at only 3″ long. After a few years that client shut down their tank and so we moved the clam to its existing home where it has continued to grow rapidly.
It may have been our aquarium cleaning that triggered the spawning as our client says he has never seen it happen before.
Because of the risk that a spawning can drop oxygen levels we made some minor adjustments to the aquariums filtration system in order to boost O2 levels.

Custom Aquarium Lighting

LED 3Aquarium lighting has made huge advances in the last 5 years, with the biggest change being the introduction of LED lighting. This new technology now allows for very powerful light s which are much more efficient, thus giving much more bang for your buck than older lighting. They also have the added bonus that LED lamps do not need changing like older style lamps that usually required annual replacement.

We recommend LED lighting for most of our live planted and reef aquarium installations. As part of good aquarium design, these lights give a very realistic look and promote excellent plant/coral growth. The lights can usually be automated to allow for precise control thus creating sunrise/sunset dimming effects. Some LEDs can even replicate cloud cover and lighting storms over your tank.

There are several manufacturers producing LED lights allowing us to supply lights to our clients differing budgets. A good quality LED lamp will usually start at around £200 rising up to £500 for a top end unit.
The top end lamps will usually contain a number of high powered coloured LEDs. These are designed specifically to meet the requirements of live plants or corals, being controlled via an iOS or android device. With individual control over these colours, we can program your fish tank lighting to specially meet your tanks livestock needs and even replicate natural moonlight.

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If you would like to discuss Aquarium LED Lighting or any other services please contact us

Twin Aquarium Installation in Altrincham, Cheshire.

We are a Cheshire fish tank installer and we’re pleased to be commissioned to replace this restaurants two aquariums with brand new custom fish tanks.

Cheshire Fish Tank Installer

The aquarium install started with the removal of one of the old tanks. The fish were temporarily housed in our dedicated storage tank which monitors water temperate and oxygenates the water. With the fish happy we could then entirely remove the old fish tank set up.
The area was then cleaned in preparation for the new custom fish tank to be installed. The new tanks were built off-site in our dedicated workshop. They were to sit over a step and so precise measurements were taken prior, to ensure a good fit.
After fitting the first new aquarium we added its decoration and filled it with a mix of matured and fresh water. Once this water was at correct PH and temperature the fish were added to their new home. To ensure the tank did not suffer from ‘new tank syndrome’ we used some of the old mature filter media from the old tank within the filter of the new one.

Setting up a New Aquarium?

New tank syndrome as its name suggests is a condition which mainly affects new fish tanks. It occurs when there is insufficient bacteria present to cope with the amount of fish stock in the aquarium. The bacteria needed to breakdown all the wastes produced by fish take several weeks to colonise a new aquarium. If fish are added before the bacteria are present in sufficient numbers, then the levels of ammonia and nitrite will rise. When this happens the tank is said to be suffering from new tank syndrome. This can lead to fish stress or even death.
There are several brands of bacterial supplements readily available which are great for helping the fish tanks filter colonise with the bacterias required for filtration.
To install the second custom tank the same process was followed. Both tanks are lit by automated LED lighting which gives a realistic looking display.
We had great feedback from our client who also opted to further employ us to provide our on-going aquarium maintenance service in Cheshire. The tanks are monitored weekly for the next 4 weeks, after which, cleaning the aquariums commences once per month via an aquarium maintenance contract.
As part of our fish tank cleaning service we provide services such as;
• Aquarium cleaning
• Water change
• Filter clean
• Gravel clean and decoration replacement
• Water testing
• Livestock check and supply of fish food
Interested in our custom aquarium installation service please contact us
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Removal of old fish tanks
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Custom In Wall Fish Tank Installed in Glossop

A recently completed built in wall aquarium installed in Glossop, Derbyshire.

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In wall fish tank

To ensure its continued success this client has chosen to employ our aquarium maintenance service in Manchester.

This set up utilises a sump based filtration system including a water top up system. This automatically replaces water lost through evaporation. The tank has powerful LED lighting and circulation pumps, all controlled via IPad.

OceanLife Aquatics service a phone box fish tank!

Our fish tank maintenance service in Cheshire, today servicing a phone box fish tank!

This client initially contacted us to see it we could provide our fish tank maintenance service in Cheshire. They had requested that it was urgency as they thought their filter was not working.  We have many clients in Cheshire and so were able to act quickly to arrange an appointment to service this aquarium.
Upon arrival we diagnosed that the filter was still operating but it was quite badly clogged up with tank detritus, and thus it’s water flow was very reduced. After a filter clean and water change there was an instant visual improvement in the fish as they were a lot more active.
Maintaining a clean filter is very important for the health of your fish as the filter is mainly responsible for processing the fish’s waste products.

If your filter becomes clogged with a build up of fish waste it not only looses water flow and cannot process enough water. But also the filter media within it looses its surface area which bacteria live on. These bacterias are vital in processing fish waste products.
When cleaning your filter, never use tap water to clean your filter media’s. Chlorine in tap water will kill these bacteria so always use tank water to clean your media. Additionally, if your filter has a pump, you should clean out the pumps impeller assembly as these often become dirty and this results in a loss of flow.
Our fish tank maintenance service in Cheshire is available to both residential and commercial clients. We have the expertise to maintain cold water, tropical or marine aquariums of any size.

Contact us for further details.

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Built in Wall Fish Tank

We are built in wall fish tank specialists. Having designed and installed hundreds of aquariums ranging in size from 50 litres up to 15,000 litres!

We offer our aquarium design and installation service to both residential and commercial clients. For very large aquaria we have the capacity to build the aquarium on-site within your home or business or deliver the whole tank via lifting apparatus.

Utilising high quality filtration equipment from our many suppliers… and working alongside your architect, structural engineer and other trades ensures the aquarium is a high quality finished product.
And coupled with our fish tank cleaning service, the aquarium will be well taken care of to ensure  a healthy environment for your fish.
If required a turn key service is offered including:

• Aquarium design and installation.
• Aquarium set up and commissioning.
• Addition of livestock at the clients choice.
• Aquarium maintenance contract.

Do you have a design concept for a built in wall fish tank?
Please contact us to discuss your idea.

Cleaning a Large Custom Aquarium in Leeds

Our first job of the week. Cleaning this large custom aquarium at a school in Leeds. This is an acrylic fish tank which makes it extremely tough and robust.

However, even though acrylic is more durable than glass, it is also softer than glass. This downside means it can be prone to scratching easily if not cleaned with the correct techniques.
We clean all our acrylic tanks with algae magnets, sponges and pads which are designed for use on acrylic. These are usually made of a softer material. Its recommended that you rinse your cleaning magnet/pad regularly whilst performing cleaning as even a build up of algae may cause light scratching.

For taking time and care of cleaning your acrylic tank, is the reward of seeing it sparkle with transparency that glass cannot replicate.

Small acrylic tanks are more costly than similar sized glass tanks. With larger acrylic tanks sometimes being more cost effective.

We can supply acrylic tanks of most shapes and sizes.
Please contact us with any design or idea you may have.