How To Setup a Saltwater Fish Aquarium

This is for anyone interested in learning how to set up a saltwater aquarium. Starting a saltwater aquarium doesn't have to be difficult. It just takes some effort on your part to learn about and research the necessary topics in order to have a good saltwater setup.

What do I need to start a saltwater aquarium?
Well, for the type of saltwater fish tank setup (marine aquarium) described in this article you will need the following equipment:

• Aquarium
• Aquarium Photo Background or Paint the background - see Aquarium Aquascape Design for more info on painting the tank background.
• Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral
• Live Rock
• Saltwater Mix
• Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a refractors
• Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, etc.)
• Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter)
• Multiple Power heads (2 or 3)
• Heater - be sure to get one large enough for the size tank you're getting
• Protein Skimmer - See the equipment reviews section for protein skimmer reviews
• Saltwater test kit(s) to test water parameters and monitor the infamous aquarium nitrogen cycle
• Saltwater fish food
• Aquarium vacuum
• Fish net
• Rubber kitchen gloves
• Aquarium Glass Scrubber or make your own DIY Algae Scraper
• Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets
• Aquarium thermometer
• Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock
• Quarantine Tank for acclimating new arrivals and monitoring for signs of fish disease
• Power Strip
• Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/De ionization filter for the make-up water.

COBITIDAE

The Cobitidae are close relatives of the Cyprinidae and are found in both Europe and Asia. They possess
a small number of barbels which they use to detect prey as they search the substrate. Given this
feeding procedure, it is preferable to use a fairly fine, smooth sand. You can recognize these fish by the
presence of a spine under the eye; this is designed for defense, but can also entangle the fish in the hand
net. Loaches, as they are commonly
known, are bottom-dwellers, and basically
twilight species; they hide away during the
day, so you will need to provide lurking
places. They are happy with artificial food,
but will not spawn in the aquarium

Getting Started with Your First Saltwater Aquarium

By taking the time to properly plan your aquarium now, you can save a lot of
time and money down the road. After all, you want to set it up once and set it
up right.
What equipment do I need?
In order to meet the needs of your fish that are highlighted in Table 1-1,
you should buy much of your equipment right from the start. After all, you
can’t bring home any fish from your dealer unless you have something to put
them into.
Part II of the book tells you about the equipment essential to a successful
marine aquarium:
What about brackish water aquariums?
Although most folks reading some books are interested in aquariums that are
strictly salt water, some are interested in aquariums that are not quite fresh
and not quite salt.
How do I set up the aquarium?
 puts all the pieces of the saltwater aquarium puzzle together and
tells you how to set up the system from start to finish. However, unlike the
typical freshwater aquarium, the marine system needs to mature as your
filtration starts to work. Therefore, you really can’t add fish until your aquarium
has had a chance to establish itself over a couple of weeks. How will you
know? That depends on water chemistry.

What’s So Great About Aquariums?

Fish watching
I can watch fish for hours, but, admittedly, I’m a bit strange. Still, the more
you watch your aquarium, the better off your aquarium will be. You’ll get to
know all the subtleties of your fish; you’ll name them; you’ll know about their
individual personalities (oh, they have them); you’ll watch as they interact;
and, most importantly, you’ll know immediately if something isn’t quite right.
Each animal in your aquarium is your pet, and, like any pet, by watching it
daily, you’ll know when it acts normally and when something is wrong.
You can diagnose problems as they arise and not after it’s too late.
Relaxation
Fish and invertebrates are entertaining creatures, and just sitting and watching
them can be very relaxing. As far as I’m concerned, relaxation is one of
the very best reasons to have an aquarium. Studies show that spending time
in front of the aquarium reduces stress. Also, if you have insomnia, try fish
watching — count fins, not sheep.
A fishy family affair
It may sound a bit corny, but fishkeeping is fun for the whole family. By bringing
the kids into the process, you help them learn the responsibility involved
in taking care of pets. Every child will want to feed the fish, and you can show
them how to do it properly. Daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance duties
become easier if they’re shared by all. Also, if everybody has a vested interest
in the aquarium, the aquarium will be better off. In fact, family pets often
get more attention than those owned by a single person.

The Discus

The Discus is known as the "King of the Aquarium". Perhaps the most beautiful of all tropical fish, the Discus is also one of the more difficult tropical fish to keep and is not recommended for beginners.
They require excellent water conditions, frequent water changes and higher water temperatures than most other tropical fish. Most successful keepers house them in a species only tank because of the high water temperature requirement. There are many color varieties to choose from with many more being introduced all the time. If you are interested in this fish, be prepared to spend some jack on this one of a kind tropical fish.

The Yellow-head Jawfish

The Yellow-head Jawfish is a wonderful looking fish with a bright yellow head and a white or light blue body. They like to burrow in the substrate and prefer a deeper sand bed with crushed coral and various grades of sand, at least 3 to 5 inches. They have the incredible ability to quickly dart back into their burrow tail first when spooked. You usually won't see them swimming around alot. They like to hang vertically above the burrow or in the burrow with only their yellow heads poking out. It's really neat to see a colony of them in a tank hanging vertically above their holes watching you. They should do well with other peaceful marine fish and you should be able to keep multiple yellow jawheads in the same tank, provided that there is enough territory for each. However, the different jawfish species may not co-exist peacefully in the same tank. They have been known to jump out of tanks when first introduced, so you'll need a good tight fitting hood with no possible escape points.
The Yellow-head Jawfish is primarily a carnivore and need meaty foods in their diet. At first, you may need to deposit the food near the burrow opening to entice them to eat. After they become acclimated they may become less shy and may come out of the burrow to eat. Be warned, they may nip at and eat small crustaceans.
They seem to be fairly disease resistant but you still need to take proper pre-cautions and use a quarantine tank before introducing them into your main tank.
 

Dwarf Gourami

More Common Names: Blue Dwarf Gourami, Sunset Gourami, Powder Blue Gourami, Neon Dwarf Gouramis

Originating in the waters of India, the Dwarf Gourami is not only beautiful but they can be particularly hardy as well. The male is more colorful while the females are less colorful. Usually the female Dwarf Gourami is gray in appearance. There are a couple of color varieties including the Blue and the Flame Red.
They make a great addition to a fully cycled community tank and are easy to care for. They should accept most fish food including flakes, freeze-dried, frozen and live foods.
If you notice the coloration on your dwarf gouramis starting to fade, try supplementing their diet with freeze dried blood worms or live foods once in a while. They are not picky eaters.

Be a Responsible Fish Keeper

If you spend any amount of time browsing the fish forums you will soon come to the realization that there are many pet fish keepers that are totally unprepared and not very responsible when it comes to keeping aquariums. It’s unfortunate that fish are not afforded the same level of care as other pets such as dogs or cats.
Many people think less of fish for some reason. Maybe because fish is a part of our diet? I don’t understand why they don’t care more deeply for the animals they are keeping. So, what does it mean to be a “responsible fish keeper”?
To me, being a responsible aquarist means:

• Taking the time to research all the fish and invertebrates you’re interested in keeping before buying them.
• Not keeping fish in bowls or other small containers with no methods of filtration or temperature control.
• Not buying a small tank for a child and assuming that they will be the primary care giver of the fish and aquarium. Although I think keeping fish can be a wonderful learning experience for children and I think it can help instill responsibility in them, realize that you (the parent) will be the primary care person for this tank. Children lose interest quickly and while they may be very interested at first, they will often forget about the tank after awhile.
• Understanding that this is a long-term hobby. Many species can live for a very long time. For instance, Goldfish can live for many years (10 or more years) if kept in optimal conditions.
• Keeping fish in adequately sized tanks. How many posts have you read about hobbyists keeping a common pleco in a 10 gallon tank?
• Not overcrowding! I understand the temptation to get “just one more fish” and I have to fight it myself. But understand that it is better for your aquarium’s inhabitants and better for you in the form of less maintenance. Less fish in your tank equates to less bio-load, which means less dissolved organics which means less water changes. Speaking of water changes….
• Performing regular partial water changes. Probably the best thing we can do to keep our systems stable is to perform small and frequent partial water changes. You want to use decholorinated water (either tap or reverse osmosis water) that has been adjusted temperature wise to your tank water. This is especially important in overstocked tanks or aquariums with no mechanisms for nitrate reduction.
• Don’t believe the rule that fish will regulate their growth depending on the size of the tank they’re kept in. They may grow more slowly, but it is not directly caused by the fish tank size. It is cause by the amount of dissolved organics and other pollutants that quickly accumulate from the bio-load in the tank. Fish that are kept in optimal conditions will continue to grow to their adult size in favorable aquarium conditions.
• Knowing about the aquarium nitrogen cycle. Although it may take a tiny bit of effort understanding this cycle, this is really basic stuff here. This would also mean not subjecting fish to the rigors of cycling a tank. Some species such as zebra danios are hardy, but they still suffer when subjected to ammonia and nitrites in the first stages of a cycle. There are many products available containing the bacteria needed to speed this cycle up and their is no reason anymore to subject fish to this.
• Using a quarantine tank for several weeks to monitor your new fish before introducing them to your main aquarium. This gives them time to adjust and you can improve their health by feeding them high quality foods before introducing them to the competitive environment in the display tank. Fish disease may show up in the first days or weeks and having them in quarantine prevents the spread of this disease to the other fish and you can easily treat them in the qt tank. It is also more economical to treat them in a smaller volume of water.
• Knowing what you’re buying. This holds especially true for saltwater reef tank keepers. Many corals can be easily fragged and aquacultured. Some species of fish, such as the neon goby and clownfish can be aquacultured as well. We need to encourage this activity and support those dealers that sell aquacultured species.

It’s really not difficult to be a better, more responsible fish keeper. It just takes a little work on your part to take the time to read and research your animals and understand some basic aquarium concepts. It also good for your karma.

Are you over medicating your fish?

The idea behind this post comes after reading several boards on various fish and aquarium forums across the great wide web. I’m always coming across posts that start off like this: “I recently set up a new tank and now I think all the fish have ich”. Or, “My fish has fin rot what can I do?”. Then you see all the responses from the others on such and such medicine and such and such treatment. Why do we think medications will fix our shortcomings as aquarists?Let me start this off by stating that while I’m all in favor of using medicines and other treatments in the right situation, I really do feel that most of them are misused and they are used much too often to treat our aquarium fish.
Take fin rot for example. Fin rot can usually be “cured” by simply providing a good diet, clean, frequently changed aquarium water and any fin nipping tank mates. No medicines are necessary. Bada-bing, poof - fin rot gone.
Ich is another easily preventable disease, but one that will benefit from using medicine to fight this fish disease in a quarantine tank before introducing it to your main tank and infecting ALL the fish in the aquarium. Developing a proper quarantine protocol with ALL new fish is an absolute. The aquarist can watch for any signs of infection and/or disease and treat if necessary in the quarantine tank. It’s too bad since this disease is so easily prevented and often fatal for our fish.
Ok, by a show of hands please, how many of you use a quarantine tank? Not many I see. It’s too bad, because you really could make it easier on yourself and your wallet by using one for you new fish friends. One of the best things you can do for your fish, aside from using a quarantine tank, is to do those partial water changes on a regular basis. Our aquariums are enclosed systems and they can quickly become polluted. Frequent partial water changes dilutes the levels of pollution in our tanks and can keep the fish from stressing. Once stressed, their immune systems may be lowered making it easier for them to contract a disease, fungus or other problem.
So, if you discover a problem with your fish such as fin rot or a fungus remember back to when your last water change was… Has it been awhile? Try getting and keeping the water cleaner before resorting to using medications.
Sorry for the rant, but I get tired reading about how much money gets wasted on all these fish medicines!

Aquarium Test Kits

A very important part of keeping fish in aquariums is testing the water periodically. There are many different types of aquarium test kits out there and it can be confusing in deciding which ones to get and what to test for in your fish tank.

If you have a newly setup fish tank, you will want to get and test for at least the following:
Test Kits For Freshwater Aquariums:

• Ammonia - the first stage of the nitrogen cycle, this will kill your fish if they are exposed long enough to it. You need to test for ammonia and if you get even a low reading on the test kit, partial water changes are required.
• Nitrite - will show up in the second stage of the nitrogen cycle. This too will kill your fish if they are in it long enough. Again, partial water changes are required.
• Nitrate- the third stage of the aquarium cycle is nitrate. While not as damaging as ammonia or nitrite, nitrate at high enough levels is not good for your tank’s inhabitants. To get rid of nitrates you can do water changes, get a denitrator (expensive) or use more live plants in freshwater tanks.
• pH- is needed to determine which types of fish will go well with your water without using any commercial additives and to periodically check to make sure nothing is too out of whack with the system. Accumulating organics tend to drive pH down, indicating that you may be overdue for a partial water change.

Test Kits For Saltwater Aquariums:

• Ammonia - see above.
• Nitrite - see above.
• Nitrate- use more live rock and deep sand beds in saltwater tanks, grow macro algae in a refugium or sump.
• Calcium- you will need to test for calcium if you want to grow the purple and pink coralline algae (may need lower lighting levels too) and if you want to keep calcium needing organisms such as clams and corals.
• Phosphate- can be a limiting factor in algae blooms/growth. Keeping phosphates near zero can be hard to do because it is introduced into the tank in many ways such as through foods and top-off water. If you have problems with phosphates, consider using Reverse Osmosis water and feed the fish very small quantities at a time. Test your activated carbon for phosphates too before using it.
• Alkalinity- can be a very important thing to test for to make sure that the buffering capacity is in an acceptable range, which is 2 - 2.6 meq/L.
• Iodine- a pet peeve of mine is to hear about folks dosing iodine without testing first. How can you possibly know if you’re dosing too much or even if you need to dose it at all without a test kit?
• Silicate - the accuracy of these test kits have been questioned and it is not all that necessary, although it can be a factor in algae growth (diatoms).
• pH - needed to make sure that the pH is staying within an acceptable range. I would really recommend getting one of the digital pH meters. Test your aquarium in the middle of the day and then again first thing in the morning. Chart your readings to get a good understanding of the system fluctuations. Too much of a swing could indicate something that needs fixing.
• Dissolved Oxygen- is a test kit that is not really needed in my opinion unless you’re walking a fine line with an overstocked aquarium. If you have adequate surface agitation and you use a properly sized protein skimmer on your tank, dissolved oxygen levels should be fine.
• Hydrometer - The hydrometer will measure specific gravity and it should be in a range of 1.021 - 1.025.