Filter Media Guide
Regular replacement of your filter media is important to the health of your aquarium. Be sure to alternate the replacement of your media and never replace all the media in your filter at one time. Biological media should never be replaced unless absolutely necessary. If you do need to replace you biological media only replace a small portion at a time over the course of 4-6 weeks until you have finally replaced all the media.

Here is our quick-start guide on selecting filter media for your style aquarium. This chart is a general guideline for choosing filter media.

Aquarium Heater Guide
Maintaining water temperature at a consistent level reduces stress on your aquarium pets. A good rule of thumb for selecting aquarium heaters is to have about 5 watts per gallon. Using 2 heaters on large aquariums allows for efficient heating and you have a backup already running in case one stops heating. Here is a quick-start guide for sizing heaters.

Aquarium Lighting
Here is our quick-start guide on aquarium lighting including Power Compact, Metal Halide, Normal Fluorescent and VHO. This chart is just a general guideline for choosing aquarium lighting. The most important thing is to know the light intensity and spectrum requirements of the plants or animals you plan to keep in your aquarium.

Which light for which tank?
Check the chart below for specific lighting recommendations on the aquarium setup you are considering.

Check our aquarium setup guides for more specific information on aquarium equipment.