Aquarium setup guides
Equipment sizing, planning checklists, and common failures to avoid before you spend at the fish shop. Principles and charts — not product picks.
Equipment & planning
Size it before you buy it
Non-brand rules of thumb for flow and heat — then use the tank builder for your actual stock list.
Hero photo: Unsplash — decorative; not a product endorsement. Licence.
Filter flow (planning band midpoints)
Bars show the midpoint of the light / heavy bands from the filter guide — useful for comparing tank sizes at a glance.
Filter flow midpoints — see the filter guide for full ranges.
Aquarium filters
Turnover vs tank size, filter types, and the maintenance mistakes that crash cycles. Works with the chart below.
Read guide →Aquarium heaters
Wattage bands, placement, probe checks, and failure modes — with a dedicated bar chart on the page.
Read guide →Tank setup checklist
Cycle first, stock in stages, substrate and hardscape order — before money goes to livestock.
Read guide →
Related tools
- Tank builder — multi-fish compatibility and stocking planning.
- Fish profiles — minimum tank, temperature, care level for 115+ species.
- Plant profiles — difficulty, light, and CO2 requirements.