How to Make an Underwater Habitat

Creating an underwater habitat that is appropriate for the creatures in your aquarium is a relatively easy undertaking. Freshwater and marine aquarium habitats are quite different, though. Freshwater aquarium habitats generally incorporate aquatic plants, along with a substrate and rocks or decorations. Marine aquariums, on the other hand, utilize a substrate, live rocks and coral to produce a proper saltwater habitat.

Things You'll Need

  • Rock or sand substrate
  • Plastic or live plants
  • Rock
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Instructions

    • 1

      Fill the base of the aquarium with your choice of aquarium substrate. Many marine aquariums use sand, while freshwater aquariums often use pebbles. If you intend to keep goldfish, choose larger pebbles, as goldfish pick up stones in their mouths and can hurt themselves doing so.

    • 2

      Install the rock or other hard surface decorations into the aquarium. The primary decoration that you are placing in your underwater habitat should be in the central location of the aquarium. Press this decoration into the substrate as far as you can. Many fish dig up the substrate and could in time dislodge the primary decoration if it isn't deeply set. In a marine aquarium, this is the last of the decoration you should add unless you add artificial decorations. This is because in a marine aquarium, the items that look like plants are actually animals, and must be added only after the aquarium has been left to mature for several weeks.

    • 3

      Fill the aquarium with water until it is within three inches of the top. This will allow you to continue adding decorations to your habitat without spilling water over the top edge of the aquarium.

    • 4

      Install the plants in the aquarium next if it is a freshwater aquarium. There are predominantly three different sizes of plants you can use, whether they are live or plastic. Short plants can be installed at the front of the aquarium, tall plants in the back, and of course, medium-sized plants in the middle. When you're installing plants into your underwater habitat, use tall plants to cover air lines and filter tubes in the back of the tank. Plastic plants have small dishes at their bases that you can bury under the substrate and prevent them from floating away. Live plants come in their own dishes that weigh the plants down.

    • 5

      Fill the underwater habitat with the remainder of the water needed to fill your aquarium and complete the construction of your underwater habitat.