Chemicals - Most Important Things for freshwater aquarium setup

Is chemical really necessary in aquarium? That must be your question and I have kept chemical as most important thing because sometimes when you don't have it, you surely will regret. Now what type of chemicals do you need while starting a hobby? The one and only that's really needed is dechlorinator and you can't get away without it if you are using drinking water provided by municipality.


The water that municipality supplies to your home will have chlorine and chloramine in it which is used to kill bacteria in the water making it safe to drink but that chemical is very harmful for fishes and must be treated before putting it into your aquarium. When I was new to the hobby my fishes died because I didn't know this fact but when I used dechlorinator, my fish were safe and I had them for longer although I grew tired of goldfishes and don't keep them now.

You can get many types of chemicals in the market or fish store but all of them  are not necessary until you really have to use them (in case your fish suffer from some sort of diseases.) Don't buy big bottle of malagreen(used to cure white spot, fin rot, parasitic fungi, swabbing wound) because you don't need them altough fish store owner say you have to use them once a week but actually they only want to sell their product to you so beware especially in case of chemicals.

You may be wondering which chemicals should I buy? Here's the answer if you use drinking water then you need Garon (popular dechlorinator in Nepal) for Rs. 50-60 for small bottle and one small bottle of  malagreen just in case. You can get other types of medicines for curing different types of diseases but at least buy those to I mentioned above and others when only necessary.

Carbon is also a chemical used in filtration especially chemical filtration which removes medicines and also prevents water to be yellow in color. But I don't like to use any chemical(except dechlorinator) in my aquarium because I don't like it and want to filter water biologically.

Thanks for reading :D Comments, Questions and Suggestions are always warmly welcomed.