Tip of the Day – 5/10/2012

An aquarium out in the open floor where you can walk around it may seem like a great idea at the time it’s dreamt up, but there are a few things about these tanks that may make them not so fun anymore. For starters, they are in the way. Instead of being tucked away in a corner or against a wall, these tanks are taking up space in heavily trafficked areas. While having the ability to walk around an aquarium is nice, especially from a maintenance perspective, it also means that there will be more careless indiviuals making the same trip as well. More passers by equals potentially more headaches from scratches and possibly more people itching to play with what’s in the tank. Besides the traffic, these aquariums also need to more maintenance. Instead of only worrying about cleaning a couple of sides of an aquarium that sits against a wall, a walkaround aquarium needs every side cleaned. That means more algae scraping and more sore hands and backs. Additionally, you also have to worry about the aquascaping a bit more. With a standard “against the wall” tank, all hobbyists really need to worry about aesthetically is how it looks from straight on, with a little thought into how it looks from the side. A walkaround aquarium, on the other hand, has to be ‘scaped just so that it looks good from all sides. Another headache to deal with, but if everything is done right, a walkaround tank can be a stunning site that dominates a room.