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How to build a SpongeBob SquarePants themed fish tank

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So you decided to set up a SpongeBob SquarePants, either for yourself or as a gift to your loved one.

This guide at Aquarium Blueprints will help you find the right decorations as well as aquarium equipment to create the best tank possible based on the popular cartoon show.

What is SpongeBob SquarePants?

SpongeBob SquarePants is an animated television series created by the late Stephen Hillenburg. It stars a squared-shaped sponge named SpongeBob as he lives his zany life with his friends at Bikini Bottom.

The original episode of the series was first aired on Nickelodeon May 1, 1999. Over 20 years, 12 seasons and over 250 episodes later, the TV show is still going strong. In fact, it has spawned two movies: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which was released in 2004, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which was released in 2015. There is also a third movie coming out in 2020 titled The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run as well as two television spin-offs: Kamp Moral (featuring the younger years of SpongeBob) and another untitled show feature Squidward.

Needless to say SpongeBob SquarePants is iconic. So it is not surprising to see a lot SpongeBob SquarePants decorations available.

Freshwater or saltwater tank?

Before you start picking out a tank, you should first decide whether or not you want to keep freshwater or saltwater aquarium. If you are a beginner to the fish keeping hoppy, then we recommend freshwater since saltwater is more complicated as you have worry about having the right amount of salinity (and may even have to get an additional equipment in a protein skimmer for more sensitive saltwater fish and/or coral).

Tank size

In general, the more water volume you have in your tank, the more stabilize your water parameters will be. The toxic compounds that will develop in your tank, such as ammonia and nitrites, will be better diluted by having more water. So you want to have as big as a tank as possible. For more on this subject matter, you can check out our tank size selection guide.

With that said, a lot of the SpongeBob SquarePants decorations we mentioned in this guide are designed to be for at least a 10 gallon tank. A lot of the pieces are also 6 inches tall at most as well, which means that you could end up having a lot of empty space on the top side of your tank if you go with one that is taller than a foot.

Best aquarium substrate and rock to recreate the ground on Bikini Bottom?

The sand on Bikini Bottom has a light brown color. To mimic this, we recommend getting the CaribSea Super Natural Moonlight Sand (you can find the substrate on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)and our review here). You should make sure you add enough of the sand to create a depth of at least 2 inches. This is because you want as much surface area as possible for the beneficial bacteria (which will help breakdown the aforementioned ammonia and nitrite compounds) to grow on.

To recreate the concrete roads of Bikini Bottom, recommend getting the Natural Slate Stone (which you can purchase on Amazon with this link) (#CommissionsEarned) and then stack them side by side.

SpongeBob SquarePants fish tank decors

If you are looking for some decorations based on the store, then you should start with the officially licensed Penn Plax Sponge Bob Square Pants 16 Piece Gift Set. The bundle comes with the SpongeBob’s Pineapple house, Squidward’s Easter Island house, Krabby Patty restaurant, gold accented nuggets and assorted plants. It also includes the following characters: Mr. Krabs, Patrick, Plankton, Sandy, SpongeBob and Squidward. Last but not least, you also get a background for your fish tank in addition to a glass cleaner.

You can purchase the Penn Plax Sponge Bob Square Pants 16 Piece Gift Set on Amazon with this link. (#CommissionsEarned)

There are also a few more decors worth checking out. One of which is an ointment for Sponge Bob’s pet snail, Gary. If you want to add Patrick’s rock house, we recommend getting a SunGrow Coco Hut (which does have an opening on the side; you can turn the opening away from the front viewing glass panel if that bothers you). Of course, you may also want to get the decor for the Chum Bucket restaurant as well. For jellyfish, you should get the Uniclife Glowing Jellyfish Ornament.

To add more plants, as well as miscellaneous buildings and vehicles, you should also take a look at the following: CousDUoBe Artificial Aquatic Plants, Otterly Pets Plastic Plants, Penn Plax Bikini Bottom Homes Aquarium Ornament and SpongeBob SquarePants Bus Aquarium Ornament. You can find all of these on Amazon with the following links:

Live Plants

We also recommend getting live plants as they will help keep your water parameters clean. Java Fern and Java Moss are great beginner plants as both very hardy to kill and don’t require much lighting. You can purchase the two on Amazon with the following links: Java Fern and Java Moss. (#CommissionsEarned)

Background

If you don’t like the background that comes with the aforementioned Penn Plax Sponge Bob Square Pants 16 Piece Gift Set, or it is too small for your tank, then you might want to get a new background. We recommend getting either a black or deep blue sea background as fish tend to show off their colors better under these dark colors when compared to lighter colored backdrops.

You can check out the Donau Blue/Black Aquarium Background, which comes with black on one side and deep blue sea on the other, with this link (#CommissionsEarned) from Amazon.

Filter

For filtration, we recommend getting the Aquaneat Aquarium Bio Sponge Filter and pairing it with Tetra Whisper Air Pump (and Penn Plax Airline Tubing if you don’t have any tubing). A sponge filter is easy to clean when compared to the other filter types and should provide plenty of surface area for biological filtration. Of course, the large sponge will also help clean small particles from your waters with its mechanical filtration. You can purchase the three via the following Amazon links:

Lighting

For lighting, we recommend the NICREW ClassicLED Aquarium Light as it provides both daylight and nightlight illumination as well as being relatively affordable when compared to other options. Make sure you buy the version that fill fit your aquarium’s width. The available options are:

  • 12 to 18 inches
  • 18 to 24 inches
  • 30 to 36 inches
  • 36 to 48 inches
  • 48 to 52 inches

You can purchase the NICREW ClassicLED Aquarium Light here.

Heater

When it comes to a heater, we recommend the Eheim Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater. Which size you should get depends on how big your fish tank is. You can see a list of below:

  • 25 Watts = up to 6 gallons
  • 50 Watts = up to 15 gallons
  • 75 Watts = up to 26 gallons
  • 125 Watts = up to 53 gallons
  • 150 Watts = up to 79 gallons
  • 200 Watts = up to 105 gallons
  • 250 Watts = up to 158 gallons
  • 300 Watts = up to 264 gallons

You can find the Eheim Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater on Amazon via this link. (#CommissionsEarned)

If you want a simple heater that has been preset to automatically heat up your tank to a tropical temperature of 78 degrees, then you might want to take a look at the Uniclife Preset Submersible Aquarium Heater.

SpongeBob SquarePants aquarium set up and care

After getting all the aforementioned decor and aquarium equipment, you can finally set up your tank. We recommend checking out our guides for newcomers in the aquarium hobby for adding new substrate to your tank, cycling your aquarium, changing water and more.

What fish should you add to your SpongeBob SquarePants fish tank?

Since SpongeBob SquarePants is a very colorful cartoon, we recommend adding freshwater fish with a lot of colors. Some ideal fish that are great for beginners that fit this criteria are Glofish, Guppies and Platies. You can also get a Betta fish, although you should keep in mind that this specie is very aggressive. If you still want a Betta, then you should only keep one alone with no other tank mates.

As you can see above, setting up SpongeBob SquarePants theme aquarium requires a lot of work. With that said, all of the efforts will be worth it in the end as you will get a very colorful tank.

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